


Joyriding

by Ikasury



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Awkward First Times, Casual Sex, F/M, Love Hotels, MC!Shipper, Mementos (Persona 5), Minor Spoilers, Punch Shadows, Slap Slap Kiss, Somehow this leads to a Relationship..., for the lolz, joyriding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-20 14:00:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 15
Words: 45,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12434325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikasury/pseuds/Ikasury
Summary: Joyriding: n: the action or practice of driving fast and dangerously in a stolen car for enjoyment.It started off with them running from the cops...Makoto and Ryuji develop a Confidant link by meeting up at Mementos at night to punch shadows... well she'd ride her persona-bike and he'd ride behind her with his bat... hitting shadows... and somehow this turned into a casual sex type thing...





	1. Rank 1

**Author's Note:**

> i just wanna say i love this ship TO DEATH!! and since playing the game, and playing as MC!Shipper, i took every opportunity possible to put these two together when i could... so of course when i beat the game i was hoping for some more stuff... wasn't much, but i was glad to see some, so i started writing this, which i called 'Joyriding' (my name for the ship) for two reasons:
> 
> 1\. Makoto riding her motorcycle with Ryuji sitting behind her hitting shadows with his bat counts
> 
> 2\. it means casual sex (least where i grew up :P)
> 
> and i could definitely see the two getting together, just not in the 'conventional' way, so my poor attempts at it~
> 
> have fun kids!

6/30 - Confidant Rank 1

“That swine and his gilded palace built upon gluttonous desires! Wicked swine preying upon the weak willed teens at our school!! That damn swine!! Picking on people that have nothing!! That-that-!!”

“-Swine…”

Makoto’s mini tirade stopped dead in its tracks as she lost her train of thought and a voice she’d honestly forgotten was there piped in what she was thinking. Then by the flat tone she quickly realized he was mocking her. Red eyes turned and glared at the boy.

“Eh-he…” the blonde punk put his hands up defensively, really unused to that intense look on the class president. Seriously, any time they’d met prior to the whole bank thing she’d been… well, cold was one way of putting it, but then her glares were minor and just something to laugh at. After seeing her pull out her persona in unbridled fury and mow down a group of ogres they were having problems with like it was nothing WHILE riding a motorcycle like something out of one of those futuristic messed up American action flicks… well, those red eyed glares of hers held a whole new meaning.

Trying to laugh it off did not seem to be helping him.

A quick cough from the punk, “L-like I mean… you’ve been over using the word ‘swine’, ‘kay I get the creep is a pig, ‘eff him right?” he waved his hands, closing his eyes as that made it _slightly_ easier to deal with those fiery red eyes pointed his way, “what I mean is, like, I know I’m not good with writing or nothing, but it just sounds weird saying it like that…” when the apocalypse didn’t happen Ryuji braved opening his eyes.

Makoto wasn’t even looking at him anymore, instead standing demurely like she normally did, quiet, calm, rational, hand holding her chin with her head slightly turned down and eyes looking at nothing. Clearly thinking over what he’d literally pulled out of his ass. “I suppose you’re right. It wouldn’t do for the illustrious Phantom Thieves to sound like a teenaged girl on a rant.”

“Not that I don’t mind or anything!” the words and accompanying stupid grin were out before Ryuji’s brain could kick itself in the nuts and reign them in. Seriously, it was HILARIOUS watching the prim and proper Class President just go OFF on something. He felt bad for any guy that was on the wrong end of her ire, that’s for sure.

Now the surprised, if confused, look she gave him after said he should have probably kept that to himself.

“Er… I mean…” okay, words were definitely not his friend right now, “Damnit!!” stomping his foot and scratching the back of his head he grumbled to himself. – _Stupid, stupid, stupid!!_ \- he was almost expecting to see Queen, standing there in her badass spikey leather outfit, fist raised with her brass knuckles and that deadly gleam in her eye like she was about to pulverize him.

What he got was a wicked side glance from the Class Prez and a rising smirk.

Crap, he was dead for sure.

\------

“THIS. IS NOT! FAIR!!!” Ryuji whined as he wheezed, running around all of Shibuya tacking up flyers of their calling card, booking it the second he so much as heard someone all the while Makoto was simply being the look out. – _Bitch isn’t even helping!!_ \- really, she was less look out and more just enjoying watching him suffer trying to jump up scaffolds and buildings and stuff trying to get as many of these damn flyers up.

_“Well, I did use my Student Council privileges to print out all those flyers, the least you could do was post them.”_

- _MANIPULATIVE BITCH!!_ \- Really, she just was not worth it!! All this bullshit! He hoped as soon as they were done with that fat piggy bank bastard she left them alone. THIS WAS ALL HER FAULT TO BEGIN WITH!!

Hell, it wasn’t like he gave a rat’s ass about his rep getting ruined or anything…

“Who’s down there?!”

“Shit.” Wait, was that the class Prez cussing?

Suddenly Ryuji found himself being pushed off the dumpster lid he was on and dragged down the alley, “Dude, the ‘Eff?!”

“Move!” Makoto _quietly_ growled at him, dragging him away from the airsoft shop and down towards the train station. She’d seen a few cops around and _hoped_ they could evade them and get this done with, but of course the second they started posting Phantom Thief flyers everywhere and Shibuya was suddenly _Red_ they were bound to garner some attention. The flashlight and authoritative shout was all she needed to know that was a beat cop on their trail.

– _This was a stupid idea!!_ \- Why did she have to be so vengeful and dramatic!! It paid to have the Phantom Thieves seen as amorphously big and threatening, so the flair was key, but of course she didn’t account for how dangerous actual vandalism could be. It was a major underestimation on her part, of course she _knew_ the cops would be out looking for ANYTHING dealing with the Phantom Thieves! Her sis was on the case! That was serious!

They needed a way out and fast!

“Hey, this way!” suddenly it was Ryuji’s turn to grab her arm and drag her towards Shibuya station.

“What in the-?!” okay, taking the train was… a decent idea, she supposed, but wouldn’t that be the first place the cops would look for vandals to run?

“Hehe,” the blonde runner glanced back a moment, giving a devil may care smile before holding up his phone and hitting a rather familiar eye-looking app.

Makoto had all of a moment for her eyes to widen and realize he was sending them into the Metaverse.

Suddenly the dark sky was a hazy purple-red, everything was silent but a low hum and were the lights green?

Skull finally stopped running, dropping her hand and smirking like a maniac, “Check it, best escape ever?!” he made a pose, hunched, knees bent, and hands out with thumbs up and sticking his tongue out, “Oh yea, baby!”

Makoto couldn’t help but raise a brow, then felt somewhat silly as she could feel the metal mask of Queen on her face. Of course he couldn’t see it! With a sigh she crossed her arms, “I have to admit, jumping into the Metaverse never crossed my mind as a simple escape from the cops…”

“Am I good or what?” that self-satisfied smirk under his black skull mask.

Queen couldn’t help but roll her eyes, even if he couldn’t really tell thanks to the heft and depth of her own mask, “Yes, I suppose,” she threw out halfheartedly, ignoring him as she glanced past the black leather clad boy, “What’s that down there?”

Behind him was what she knew from the real world to be the entrance to Shibuya station. In the Metaverse it looked almost pitch black and gave a very ominous and unsettling vibe. Also there was moaning? It sounded like a ton of voices put on low were emanating from the place.

“Hm?” Skull finally turned around, taking up his normal pose of slouching with his hands in his pockets, “Oh, that? That’s Mementos.”

There was a well-deserved glare from her as he said that like it was the most normal thing in the world, “And _what_ is Mementos?”

Well that tone of voice definitely sent a chill down the blonde boy’s spine, the accompanying flat stare and mask of Queen did not help him! Damn she was scary looking like that, made him just want to drop to the floor and beg for forgiveness, “Er, ri-right, you ain’t been here yet,” he tugged on his collar trying to avoid her eyes, “But, uh… yeah… uh…” scratching his head, how the heck did his bro and that damn cat explain this place again? “Eh, screw it,” he waved his hand over his shoulder while walking down the bleak stairs, “Easier to just see the place…”

Makoto raised a brow; that was an oddly succinct response. – _But this is Ryuji…_ \- she reminded herself, already tonight he’d proven he wasn’t that great at explaining things. Writing them down? Sure, he was fine, able to mesh her little tirade into something eloquent for the Phantom Thieves, but verbally? Not so much. She put a finger to her forehead, feeling the metal of her mask, and sighed, “Right, what was I thinking?” then simply crossed her arms and followed him down.

Now, what she was used to was a ticket gate, station workers and commuters flowing normally in the soft subway light to the platforms awaiting their next destination.

What she saw in this ‘Mementos’ was sort of like that, only red, lots of red, and creepy. The whole place gave her chills that despite the fact she was in a full-body leather suit left her feeling very cold. The voices, that creepy hum, was also louder down here…

“So, uh, yea,” Ryuji waved his hand out at the station entrance of Mementos, “This is Mementos, it’s like… I dunno, Mona said it was like everyone’s palace or something, so it’s pretty big and full of all kinds of shadows.”

“Everyone’s palace?” That piqued Makoto’s interest, though she knew it’d be little use asking Ryuji, he was having a hard enough time just introducing the place to her and they were standing in it. “Hmm, interesting,” She supposed the concept made sense, in a weird Jungian psychology kind of way. – _I should probably look more into this later…_ \- More studying, later, it appeared, “So… you guys fight shadows in here?”

“Huh, yea?” Skull scratched the back of his head, “That damn cat’s all up on this place for some reason, always wanting us to check it out, but like see it closes up on us at points and it wasn’t till we beat the shit outta Kamoshida, then Madarame, that we could go further… but, uhhh… I wouldn’t recommend it, the further down the shadows get harder… so…” the blonde stumbled a bit, not sure there was really much else _HE_ could say about the place. The only thing he really paid attention to was that they could fight shadows in here cause well, it was pretty fun!

Makoto walked further down, into the entrance proper and on the platform. There were rails down below but it didn’t look like there were any trains running on it. If anything it looked disheveled and unused, with strange red vines growing on it, “Are those tire tracks?”

“Hmm?” Skull came up behind her, holding a bat on his shoulder, “Yep, get this, Mona can turn into a bus! So we like pile in him when we’re here, otherwise this place would take like WAAAAAY too long to explore!”

Red eyes blinked at the boy; she recalled the cat, Morgana or Mona, turning into a bus the others road when they were escaping that damn bank the first time she was there. But that wasn’t what she why she was blinking, “Ryu-Skull, where did you get that bat?”

“Hm? This?” he rolled his shoulder, indicating the bat, “Oh, yea, well I can’t always be walking around with one on our way here, cops always giving me this look, so I usually just stash one while we’re here and welp, seems like nothing comes up this far to mess with it, so hey, I got it just in case ya know?” he ended again with that wide carefree grin of his.

“Suppose you have a point,” So far she had used knuckles to help out in their fights, but really she was just as deadly empty handed. Red eyes glanced from Ryuji, dressed as Skull, with his bat on his shoulder and looking like the text book definition of a punk, down to the tire tracks on the dirt by the subway tracks…

It gave her an idea.

“You wanna go hunt some shadows?”

“Whaaaaat?!” Skull was staring at Queen with wide eyes and an unbelieving look on his face. Was she serious?! Sure, he kept a bat here just in case, but there was no way just the two of them… well, Queen _was_ kind of a badass… he shook his head, “Are you outta your damn mind?! We usually only head in here when we got a request or something going on, and it’s not like we can get very far…” not that he knew or anything cause it wasn’t like he’d come her by himself a few times and tried chasing down the big shadows or anything. – _cough_ -

Suddenly that familiar blue light of summoning a persona appeared around Queen as she grabbed her mask. Before Skull could say a word there was that tinkling of bells and the 3rd year girl yanked that thing off, her motorcycle persona appearing behind her as she quickly jumped on.

The look she gave him made him weak in the knees and he was not ashamed to admit it.

“So,” she revved her persona’s engine, deadly fiery eyes, defiant smirk, and all the presence of a post-apocalyptic road warrior about to head out and take down some civilization, “You want to go for a ride?”

Ryuji had to swallow a lot of spit. That was a deadly look, a damn fine deadly ass look that was going to get him killed. He knew it was late, knew they were only here cause they were ditching the police while throwing up those calling cards, and really they still had a bunch to put up that he stashed where he normally hid his spare bat…

But damn, that rebel look and the thought of hitting shadows on the back of a bike? Ugh, that was like some fantasy of his he never knew existed!

“I’m in!” he jumped on the back, confidence shining through for once, holding his bat in one hand and the bike with his other.

“You might want to hold on tighter,” Queen smirked, gunning it before Skull could so much as move, and didn’t even notice has he grabbed her round the waist and squeezed tight as she jumped Johanna off the platform and down into the tunnels of Mementos.

There was the rev of an unknown bike engine and the hoots of a rowdy pirate as the two brained a few unsuspecting shadows. What better way for a pair of rebels to enjoy a successful escape, after all?


	2. Rank 2

7/8 – Confidant Rank 2

_M:_ _Heading to Mementos._

The second Ryuji got that message he bolted up right and made sure he had some proper pants on before running out the door. He had planned to spend the night stress gaming, after all unless things went well for them like before they were going to get ‘exposed’ by those fake photos that fat piggy bastard had of them with drugs and booze.

Sure, things looked bad, but they beat the guy, right? Hell at the team meetings lil’ Miss Class Prez seemed like she wasn’t affected. Hell she didn’t say much at all, just a curt nod, a turn of the heel and she was back to being her ‘normal’ school self. Law-abiding and sucking up to teachers probably.

Hell, what was she doing sending him a message about Mementos? They’d gone there the other day with the team for some Phansite stuff. Everything had been normal, hell she’d apparently looked stuff about the place cause what she was saying to their Leader and that damn cat was nothing like the curt glance he’d gotten when they first went in. Hell, if she didn’t want to mention she’d been before, sure, whatever, wasn’t like he was gonna snitch on her prim and proper ass.

If anything he wanted to forget that night. Sure, hitting Shadows with his bat on the back of her Persona-Bike was fun, but her running him around to finish throwing up more flyers afterwards had been a serious buzzkill. Woman effin’ confused the hell out of him.

“Ugh, what the eff’ am I doin’ then?!” he growled at himself as he hopped up the stairs to Shibuya station. He stopped by a drink machine, grabbing a few figuring if anything else the caffeine would keep him awake long enough to get back home. His mom was asleep, she’d freak if he wasn’t back soon.

He honestly hoped she wouldn’t be there. That his phone just sent him some long-lost message… or a mistake or whatever. That happened right?

Of course as soon as he was topside he notice her leaning against the wall to the stairs down into the station.

With a heavy sigh the blonde rebel made his way over, nudging her shoulder with a drink, “It’s just my luck you were serious, huh?”

Makoto jumped at the nudge, and breathed a sigh of relief at the accompanying voice. Red eyes blinked at the drink offered, noticing it was a soda and that was about all she could make out in the low light, “Ah, t-thanks,” she held it instead of opening it, looking at the boy, “Also, why wouldn’t I be serious?”

Ryuji made a pout, sticking out his bottom lip and slouching more, “I dunno, cause it’s like midnight, and tomorrow we could get expelled?” he took a sip from his drink, “Seems like a dumb night to be doing something stupid…”

A smirk found its way on Makoto’s face, “I don’t know,” she pulled out her phone, starting up the MetaNav, both of them not even batting an eye as their attire and the world around them changed, “Seems like the perfect time to do something stupid.”

Queen looked over at Skull with a light daring smirk to his punkish pout.

“After all, it might be our last chance.”

And with that the leather clad road warrior descended into the depths of Mementos.

Skull just gave a long hard groan, “Effin’ twist my arm…” he threw his now empty can, feeling a bit more invigorated thanks to it, and the nice view as Queen walked away, not that he was going to mention that to her.

Already he could hear the rev of her Persona’s engine. Impatient it seemed.

“Heh,” Skull went to grab his spare bat, lazily marching onto the platform where Queen already sat atop Johanna, “I’d almost say you’re eager?”

“Maybe a little bit,” she twisted the handle on her Persona-bike, revving its mysterious engine, “Are you coming or not?”

The pirate themed boy just had to bite his lip. That phrase, those burning eyes… man she was gonna be the death of him.

He gave a rebel’s grin, jumping on the back of her bike and making a point to grab around her waist tight. Last time he nearly fell off more than once, woman was a crazy driver! “Yea, let’s go, wanna get this done with before my mom wakes up, kay?”

Makoto had to swallow hard at the tight grip, reminding herself it was just because they were riding a motorcycle and really that was the best place he could grab. Nothing else. “Right,” with a firm nod she moved Johanna off the landing, “I’ll have you home before your mom even notices,” she glanced back enough to give him a wink, smirking as she messed with him and not even sure he could see it thanks to her mask.

Skull nearly fell off, reflexively saving himself as she took a turn down another tunnel. With a look like that? Hell yea she was trying to kill him!!

“Tch!!” Skull quickly rectified this slip by smashing his bat into the face of their first Shadow of the evening, “Just watch where you’re going, crazy driver!”

Queen just smirked more, brake-sliding into another Shadow and quick turning into another tunnel, only barely making sure her passenger was still onboard, “Whatever… Momma’s boy.”

Ryuji gripped her waist tighter, since he couldn’t make a fist! And hit another Shadow.

\-----

They’d made it to the first rest area.  Ryuji couldn’t remember what it was called, all the names Morgana spouted off about this place were weird. It was further then they’d gone before, just the two of them, so that was something.

Queen was slumped back on the chair across from him. She looked a little worn out, having her Persona summoned for so long must’a been tiring her out.

“Hey,” He waved his hand, “You alright?”

Queen opened her eyes at the voice, “Yea, I’m fine.” She pulled out the drink Ryuji had given her earlier, it helped a little bit.

Ryuji just chuckled, shaking his head, “Stuff’s good for a bit, but not much,” he patted the bench next to him, “Guess this is as far as we go tonight.”

“Hm,” vaguely red stared at the ceiling of the Metaverse subway rest area. “How far down does Mementos go?” When they’d come with the team a few days ago they’d gone further down and fought harder Shadows without barely any effort. She felt extremely annoyed at being worn out by minor Shadows with just her and Ryuji.

“Dunno,” the blonde pirate across form her shrugged, “Though, chances are, if all goes well tomorrow and we _don’t_ get plastered all over the internet, we’ll be able to go further down… well, with the team.”

“Hm,” Queen gave a dismissive sound, drinking more of the soda.

“So, hey,” Ryuji waved at the rebel rider, “Why’d you really want to come down here tonight?” he may have been a bit thick, but he could tell by the way she was riding tonight and purposely chasing down baby shadows their Class Prez was looking to do some damage. Question was what was eating her to get that pissed off?

“Your mom, she’s waiting for you when you get home, right?” Makoto was leaning against the glass of the subway rest stop, not even looking at the boy across form her and obviously ignoring his question.

She was lucky he only pushed up his lip and gave her thuggish scowl, “Sure, ignore me,” Ryuji huffed back, slumping further on the subway chairs, watching the Shadow train go by with his arms out stretched, “Yea, my mom’s still at home, hopefully sleeping cuz’ she’ll have my ass if she wakes up and I’m still out…” really he was worried about her. Sure, she’d be pissed he was out without telling her, but wasn’t like much was gonna happen. He was more worried about leaving her alone, stuff could happen.

There was a halfhearted laugh from Queen, “Lucky,” a barely hinted smirk tried to make its way on her face, but it took too much effort to try that hard.

- _That’s a weird thing to say…_ \- brown eyes dropped on the girl, still staring at the ceiling and not him, “Hey, ain’t your sister back home?”

Her shoulders moved, not enough to really be called a shrug, “Working… not that it matters…” Queen just stared at the ceiling, not really seeing anything.

Skull just frowned. That was kind of messed up, wasn’t she all up about her big sister? Trying to stop all this bullshit with Kaneshiro cause it’d get back to her big sister and ruin her reputation? “We’re gonna be fine you know,” he waited for her to look at him, took a while since she seemed to be in a daze but the moment those red eyes looked at his, he told her as straight as he could, “We stole that bastard’s heart, he’ll turn himself in, drop all this shit, and everything will be fine, you’ll see!”

Makoto just stared at him, for a moment she seemed relieved before her eyes clouded again and she just looked away, “Yeah, you’re right…” patting her hands on her knees she stood up, putting her hand on her hip and looking down at Ryuji, “Come on,” a small smirk passed her lips, “About time I got this Momma’s boy home.”

“Tch,” Skull clicked his tongue, standing up and thuggishly pouting in her face, “You wish!”

Red eyes rolled as Queen shook her head, pulling off her mask to summon her Persona, “That’s not a very good come back.”

“Eff it!” Skull smacked his shoulder, winding up his arm holding his bat, “One last run and we’re done tonight!!”

Queen raised a brow, giving the boy an incredulous look.

Skull just responded with his thuggish pout, taking his seat behind her.

“Momma’s boy.”

“Shut it!”

And the two were back down the tunnels of Mementos, clearing lesser shadows as they ascended back to the station entrance.


	3. Rank 3

7/19 – Confidant Rank 3

_R: So hey…_

_R: need a ride in Mementos?_

_R: wanna help?_

_R: feeling kinda antsy…_

_…_

_R: Help a fellow PT out?_

_…_

_R: C’mon!_

_R: I came when you asked!_

_…_

_R: Please?_

_…_

_R: I’ll be there_

_R: you better show Class Prez!_

Makoto rolled her eyes at the latest message.

“Is something the matter?”

Red eyes shot up from her phone to meet equally red ones. Sae Niijima, her older sister was giving that scrutinizing look she probably used to interrogate criminals.

Part of Makoto’s mind sighed. – _Not far off Sis_ \- both on the criminal part and something being wrong, “Just a friend… she wants me to come over to help her study.”

A trim grey brow rose on the Elder Niijima’s face, “This late?”

An empathetic look passed Makoto’s face, easily finding an excuse, “She works immediately after school, her shift just ended,” quickly, and hopefully not suspicious, she grabbed her dinner plate and moved to place it in the sink. She needed to play cool here, her sister was sort of the Phantom Thieves’ biggest enemy, best not to trigger anything.

Sae sat back in her chair, eyes firmly on her laptop and only peripherally aware of her sister’s movements, “Still, it’s late…”

“I’ll be careful,” Makoto hoped she gave a charming smile, adding more fuel to the fire of her _completely legitimate_ reason for skipping out so late, “We just got our exam results, she didn’t do so well, so wants to get a quick start on the next one…” now for the killer blow! “And I said I’d help out, can’t turn down offered help.”

That sharp red eyed look was terrifying to say the least as Sae glanced at her sister, hand on her chin as clearly this ‘matter’ garnered enough of the elder Niijima’s attention, “It would look bad to go back on your word,” it seemed she was placated enough, looking back at her laptop, “Don’t stay out too late, it’s dangerous.”

Once in her room Makoto gave a relieved sigh. That was harder than she thought but worth it, if she ever needed to slip out for more Phantom Thief business she needed to start getting used to lying to her sister. – _Not that it makes me feel any better…_ \- shaking the depressing thought out of her head she moved to gather what was necessary, both to look like she was going to ‘study’ with someone and for fighting shadows. It felt like a good night to ride anyway.

As she made it back to the living room her sister and her laptop had disappeared.

Makoto’s shoulders slumped as she sighed, “Of course.”

Her sister wasn’t going to be around when she got back.

\-----

Ryuji had been waiting what felt like a long time, probably an hour, couldn’t be much less. Still, it felt terribly long and for a moment he thought Makoto stood him up.

So he was happily surprised to see her jog up to him in the low light, a backpack on, and looking his way.

With a grin the blonde punk pulled out his phone and hit the funky eye shaped nav, the world fuzzing and changing to a more red tone, as both Skull and Queen finally met up.

Queen slowed her trot to a halt, looking around before at him in a way he figured meant she was raising her brow and questioning his methods.

Skull just shrugged, “What?” he gave that cheeky pirates grin, “I was a little impatient, been waiting awhile after all!”

Those spiked shoulders on the road warrior slumped as she glanced away, “Sorry, stopped by to get some supplies,” she jostled her bag, both surprised and in her case, relieved, the thing hadn’t disappeared when their outfits changed. Both could hear the clink of metal as cans shifted around, “I got those drinks Morgana mentioned that help keep your spirit up, so I should be able to drive around longer.”

The blonde pirate just nodded, looking from the bag to his confidant’s face. She looked a bit paler than normal and he felt he couldn’t attribute that to her running his way, “Hey, you okay?”

“I’m fine,” was her succinct response, already walking towards the entrance of Mementos and walking down the steps, “Come on, you seemed pretty eager we get started down here, I want to try getting to a lower level…”

“Heh, yea,” Skull kicked at a rock, following her down, continuing without prompting, “Sorry, just… got my exam results,” he ran a stressed hand through his hair, “I knew I wasn’t gonna do good, I never do, but damn this sucks,” quickly he grabbed his bat and heard more than saw her summon her bike, “I just wanna… hit something, ya know?” he weighed the bat in his hand, raising and dropping it in his hand a few times.

“I know exactly how you feel,” Queen said flatly, revving her persona’s mysterious engine, “Come, let’s get to work on these shadows…”

Skull looked at her for a second. He knew something was wrong, she always seemed to get more antsy when it was just the two of them. – _something’s messing with her_ \- he knew it was obvious but he couldn’t figure it out, and while he’d be honest with her if she asked, like he was tonight, he still felt weird asking her what was wrong. – _she always deflects… but I think I know what it is…_ \- He remembered her comment from the last time they’d gone joyriding. She was envious of his mom being there when he got back… meaning she didn’t have anyone waiting for her.

It was kinda sad.

Ryuji climbed on the back of Johanna and grabbed around Makoto’s waist. He held on a bit tighter than normal, wanting to, he wasn’t sure, give her a hug? Show that someone cared she came out when he asked? He didn’t know, he just wanted her to feel a bit better.

Hitting shadows seemed to make them both feel a bit better, and if nothing else Makoto slept easier being worn out from combat. Too tired to really care that her sister didn’t come back that night like she’d thought.


	4. Rank 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Figured i'd at least post up to where this earns it E-rating initially~ ;P

8/20 – Confidant Rank 4

_M: Mementos._

Makoto closed her phone heading to the train station.

Thirteen days ago they’d taken Futaba’s heart and for thirteen days the girl had been asleep.

Tomorrow it was make or break for the Phantom Thieves as Medjed didn’t show any sign of stopping their planned attack. Already there had been various crises happening to the country’s economics and people had no idea if it was Medjed or just bad luck. The longer nothing happened or was stated by the Phantom Thieves the more tension grew and it was at the point everything felt like it was going to explode.

They were screwed! They were going to get revealed! People were already turning on them! They were going to go to prison, her sister would never speak to her again, and they’d get expelled at the least…

Things were just getting too hectic and crazy.

It was surreal.

Makoto needed to just… stop, or she was going to explode. She needed to get this tension out, needed to hit something, **_do_** something and she had no idea what it was. This was a legitimate first for her.

Her whole freak out over Kaneshiro, resulting from A LOT happening to her in a twenty-four hour period, almost seemed like chump change compared to what was happening now. That resulted in her charging in ahead unprepared, getting effectively kidnapped and blackmailed only to basically rage her way to getting a persona and joining a group of basically criminals.

“Oh dear, what am I going to do now?” she sighed out to herself as she waited at their spot outside the mouth of Mementos. She was tense, antsy, fidgeting, all manner of nervous as she was trying to not bite her nails or punch a wall. She just needed to get this energy out, somehow.

Punching shadows just sounded like a good idea.

It wouldn’t help, but it would probably make her feel good.

And if that failed to calm her nerves… she had honestly no idea what she was going to do.

\-----

The air was heavy.

Ryuji didn’t know what it was but everything felt heavy.

Maybe it was the Medjed thing, they’d be screwed if that little NEET didn’t do her thing despite what they did for her. Maybe it was everyone in the world, from his house to the station, panicking and talking about the end of the world.

Maybe it was the heavy revving of Johanna’s engine, terrifying smaller shadows as they drove to the lower levels.

Maybe it was how tense Makoto felt, as he held her from behind.

She’d rev Johanna, spin the bike in a maneuver he couldn’t wrap his head around, and the murky, colorless, _heavy_ swamplike feel of Queen’s Nuke element attacks would wrap around him as she destroyed another group of shadows.

He wasn’t even hitting them anymore, just trying to hold on and figure out what was wrong with Queen.

He knew she was aggressive, when Makoto and Queen got pissed it was hell for anyone, or thing, in their way. Queen would demolish and destroy, but Makoto…

He didn’t know. Not really.

The class President he knew for a year and a half seemed to have warped in his head. Here a few months ago she was just this annoying, mousy girl that haunted the halls of the third floor around the student council room. Quiet, demure, all that polite girly shit he’d never attribute to Ann.

Hell even with the Phantom Thieves some of that remained. Quiet, demure, but assertive, confident, assured of whatever plan she put forth.

But here?

Who was she here?

It was Queen, sure, but this was like… like the Makoto they saw at Kaneshiro’s place for the first time.

This wild, raging, untamable force of nature.

Her Nuke element certainly seemed to fit. It just wiped everything out, not as much as his buddy’s weirdass Almighty attacks but it was sure as shit stronger than the lightning he could dish out with Seiten Tensei.

She was strong, she could heal him up when he threw out a powered up punch once too much… she watched out for him when it was just them out here.

But what the hell could he do for her?

Right now all he could do was hold on tight, trying not to fall off as she bulldozed her way through the floors. Mowing down lesser shadows, nuking others, and chugging back enough energy drinks he was sure she’d get kidney problems later in life.

“Hey, Queen!” he tried shouting, seeing if he could get through to her between the noise of her persona-bike and Nuclear blasts going off. “OI! MAKOTO!!”

The bike came to a screeching halt. Its driver glancing back with a narrow red eyed glance, “What.”

Ryuji just sighed, taking a moment to catch his breath, “Just wondering, man, what’s up?”

“Nothing,” that metal mask turned forward as she revved her bike.

“Bullshit,” Skull reached over her, grabbing her hand on the bike grip, “You’re driving around like a madwoman, nuking the shit outta everything around us, and you wanna tell me there ain’t nothin’ wrong?!”

A part of Makoto’s mind was conscious of the fact that in order to reach the handle and stop her hand, Ryuji’s body was fully pressed against her back. The leather of her outfit did very little to hide the intimate details of his own.

Despite this, whatever blush had developed on her face was quickly overridden by that becoming feeling of pure unaltered rage she felt at the inadequacies of their situation. “Let go.”

“No.” the skull masked boy raised his chin, looking down on the girl with obvious challenge, “You’re acting more reckless than normal, and eff’ if I’m gonna be draggin’ you’re ass outta’ here knocked out…”

“Then get off,” that red eyed glare was back, brilliantly seen despite their masks and close proximity, “I’ll take care of myself and pick you up later… if I feel like it.”

That last part had Skull snarling, “Like hell!” his hand moved from hers on the bike’s handle to her collar, pulling her closer and turning her so they were eye-to-eye, “We’re going back now! I’m not letting you get yourself effin’ killed!!”

A dark shade came over Queen’s mask, her hand gripping at her side, “I’m only going to say this once again: Let. Go.”

Whatever civility was there Ryuji ignored. He’d drag her out of here kicking and screaming if he had to. Wasn’t what he wanted, but her getting hurt by shadows here alone was worse, “No.”

The blow came quicker and stronger then he thought. Right in the chest, right below his own hand gripping her collar. One powerful slam to the chest and he was tumbling off the persona-bike.

But he was a scrapper, had been since middle school. It was a shock, it fucking hurt! But it wasn’t enough for him to let her go, not yet.

So when Ryuji fell off Johanna, Makoto went with him. Without the physical connection the persona-bike quickly disappeared and the two fell on the ground in a scuffle.

It wasn’t even a fight. One second Makoto was on top, punching Ryuji in the chest or arm as he blocked his face, the next he rolled them over and he’d slam her on the ground with his grip, arm raised to punch her back only to get blocked and rolled over again.

The one time he got a good hit to her face he sucked his teeth, cutting his hand on her mask as she kneed him in the side, flipping them again.

By the time she finally got his hand off her collar she was worn out and missed his face as he bear hugged her around the chest, forcing her to the ground.

Back and forth the two scrapped on the ground. It wasn’t even proper to call it grappling as despite one of them being properly trained in Akido, there was no real sense to this. They were just hitting for the sake of hitting.

When the adrenaline started to ware off, Makoto was on top, breathing hard and had no more weight to her punches. Hitting the ground around his face, missing as he flinched and just about collapsed. Ryuji, at this point, was too tired from struggling and trying to reign her in to know what was really going on or bother trying to flip them to gain the upper hand.

Makoto collapsed on top of Ryuji as he just laid there exhausted.

Both were breathing hard, lost in the sound.

For a moment that’s all that there was, two warm and rough bodies breathing to stay alive.

Ryuji stared at the creepy ceiling of Mementos, not sure what to do. Not even able to think of anything.

Then Makoto managed to push herself up and stared at him. Those red eyes surrounded by steel stared at dark brown wrapped in a metal skull.

Their breathing synced for a moment and either she collapsed or he squeezed her closer, but their lips met and took both a second to even register they were kissing.

For a moment it was kind, then desperate as their lips pressed harder, their eyes closed and both tried everything in their power to gain the upper hand.

Yellow gloves moved along road leather, while bare hands clutched at blonde hair and their bodies pressed closer and closer, desperate for more contact.

Queen brought her knees up, resting the crux of her legs firmly over his waist as one of those daring gloves moved up the side of her corset, tugging at the bindings and trying to find a way to undo them.

Skull bit at her lip as she tried to move away, groaning as her position had her press down on his suddenly very tight leather pants. The action enough to stun him and lose the liplocked battle, throwing his head back into her strong hand.

There was a smirk on the road warrior’s face as she watched him beneath her; breathing hard, tense, hands grasping at her desperately…

That’s when she realized what they were doing.

When she froze, Skull noticed, realizing her hips weren’t moving on their own anymore and her hand had let go of his hair. Dreamy eyes opened behind that Skull mask and he saw her red ones behind steel just staring at him.

And for a long time that’s all they did. Frozen with his hand on her leather clad ass, the other on her breast as one of hers was in his hair and the other on his chest, as all they did was stare at one another.

He blinked.

She stared.

“It really sucks I can’t figure out how to take this hotass suit off you…” it was the first words that came to mind.

He could see a blush rising below her mask and the grip on his hair tightened. That was a good sign, right?

“I…” he was mesmerized by Queen’s chest moving up and down, his hand miraculously still on her right breast, “I feel the same…”

Dark Brown eyes widened as he processed what she just said.

His stunned form lasted long enough for Queen to move her hand from his head to the bandanna around his neck and tug him up with no resistance, “This needs to go,” was her whispered command to the stunned boy.

Now it was Ryuji’s turn to swallow hard and blush. “Y-yes ma’am.”

They spent the next five minutes trying to figure out how to take off their Phantom Thief outfits to no success.

“Fuckin’ damnit!” Ryuji growled, “The fuckin’ one time a girl is into me I can’t,” tug, “Get.” Pull, “These!” yank, “DAMN _CLOTHES **OFF!!**_ ”

He collapsed on the ground, giving up. Clearly he was not meant to get laid today.

Makoto was similarly annoyed, if the look on her face meant anything, “I suppose we’ll have to leave the Metaverse to continue…”

Ryuji immediately perked up, staring at the girl with wide eyes.

When Makoto stood up and noticed his look she gave him a questioning brow, not that he could see but all the same, “What?”

The blonde’s mouth was suddenly very dry as his jaw was hanging open, staring at her, “You… y-you wanna… continue?”

At this point she had pulled off her mask, resummoning Johanna, and gave him another now visibly raised brow, “You don’t?”

“I-uh…” the boy blinked, “Yes.”

“Then get on,” Queen commanded from her bike, a slight smirk forming, “I happen to know a street with a couple love hotels…”

“I…” Ryuji stumbled for his words, and footing, as he stared at Queen again.  He took a moment to look at her face to face, just looking for a second to make sure this was really her, “That’s so hot.”

It was really hot, she blushed, but that smirk didn’t leave as she raised a hand and patted his face before kissing him, heating him up all over again, “Now be a good boy and get on…”

He did not have to be told twice. Instantly Ryuji was on that bike and pressing his considerably hard body against hers, whispering in her ear, “Yes, my Queen.”

Neither mentioned how quickly Makoto made it through the floors of mementos on their way out.

\-----

They were lucky both were wearing plain clothes and it was fairly late. Makoto stared at the neon sign for one of the love hotels in the red light district.

“So… uh…” Ryuji fidgeted next to her, “How-uh… how do you know about this place?”

Makoto adjusted her purse, gripping the strap and steeling her nerve. She’d decided this in Mementos and she wasn’t going to back down now. – _We might be in prison tomorrow, why not?_ \- it was flawed logic, and she knew that, but did it matter if it was true? She was going to spend potentially her last free night as the adult she was. – _I’m 18 damnit, I can do this!_ -

To say it took her a second to respond to Ryuji’s question was an understatement, “I’ve… occasionally, found students hanging around this part of town…”

“So…” he scratched the back of his head a bit nervously, “Being the morality police?” the grin he pulled was full of snark, “Kinda, ironic, huh?”

She shrugged, he was right, “Well, we could be arrested tomorrow, or at worst hunted down by an angry mob…” red eyes turned to him laced with something dangerous, “The perfect time to do something stupid?”

The boy could only blush and gulp, that look was deadly… deadly sexy, even if what she was saying was kind of messed up, “Happy thoughts, huh, Mako-chan?”

She didn’t rise to the taunt, instead taking confident steps inside, getting them a room.

Ryuji could only blink. Then smacked his cheeks trying to psyche himself up, “C’mon man! This is a girl! And she’s all over you!” he clinched his fists tightly, “You can do this!”

When he looked up the man behind the counter was giving him a weird look, immediately making him lose all his cool.

The blonde just coughed into his hand and followed the way Makoto went… and stopping by a convenient vending machine on the way.

He caught up to her as she was opening the door and both walked in together.

… To say this was the first time either of them had been in a Love Hotel was an understatement, but neither really expected it to be so… red.

Red carpets, red walls, red sheets, red sheets hanging from the heart shaped bed with red pillows.

“It’s really…”

“… red.”

Both seemed to gulp at once and somewhat rethink their logic.

Makoto was the first to shake her head. She’d made the decision, she was going to stick with it! “So…”

Ryuji seemed to just blush, nervously scratching his head, “Yea…”

Well this was turning out to be a fantastic time.

Both looked at each other, only to immediately glance away blushing.

So much for decisions made.

“H-hey… um…” the blonde was still scratching his head, looking away with the biggest blush of his life, “W-we… uh… we don’t have to… i-if you’re havin’ second thoughts…”

“No-no… no… I’m not…” so much for an easy way out. – _Damnit! I can do this! I said I was interested!_ \- she could only imagine the Queen version of herself, so confident and assured, being angry at her current, wishy-washy self. Why was it so hard to be as committed in the real world as she was in the metaverse?

“Hey, c’mon…” Ryuji had turned at her response, so stiff and uncertain compared to the confident Queen back in Mementos. Makoto was blushing hard, biting her lip and giving off every sign of being nervous. He wasn’t going to stand there and force her into anything, no matter what his junk said about it, “It’s cool,” he put his hand on her shoulder, turning her towards him and spoke as gently, and confidently as he could muster despite the blush on his face, “I get it, I’m not exactly… well, not ideal, I’m sure, just… hey, we can forget about-”

Again he was trying to give her a way out. – _He’s so kind_ \- it was honestly somewhat cute, his chivalry. It caused Makoto to blush even more, tucking her head in embarrassment, “S-sorry, it’s not that… it’s…” now he had both hands on her shoulders, trying to be reassuring, and when she brought her red eyes to meet his dark brown ones something sparked once again.

His sincerity was quite… fetching, actually, making him seem rather handsome.

Unaware what he was doing, Ryuji just rubbed her shoulders with his thumbs, being encouraging, “S’cool, man, like I said, we don’t have to do anything,” he raised one hand to run through his hair, giving a goofy smile, “Seriously, I can be a gentleman about this, if ya don’t wanna-”

His words were cut off by Makoto putting her hand around the back of his head and pulling him in close, capturing his lips.

It stopped Ryuji dead in his tracks, eyes wide, body tense and too surprised to fully register what was going on.

He was warm, smelled of sweat and night air, it was surprisingly good.

When Makoto ended the kiss, still red faced from the experience and intended outcome, she managed to catch the boy’s surprised look. It brought back her embarrassment, “S-sorry… I just… I thought…” she tried to back away, unable to as his one hand was now a vice on her shoulder, “I… don’t really have experience in this, so…” to be completely honest, she was hoping he’d lead here, as she had no idea what she was doing.

Ryuji seemed frozen for a second, then his entire body shook and he seemed to melt, before registering her confession and dryly laughed, “Heh, yea… can’t say I tout any great experience either… unless you count porn…”

“More than me,” it was _almost_ true. She may have found a few books her sister tried to hide… and the things she’d confiscated from the student body! Well…

The blonde just deflated, that was a stupid thing to say, “Trust me, it ain’t great…” he rubbed his hand on his jeans, suddenly feeling really sweaty and awkward. “That was… um… nice, by the way…”

“R-really?” so they were both amateurs, she hadn’t exactly banked on that. Ryuji had always carried himself with such confidence when pursuing women she had thought, and in this case hoped, he’d have had _some_ idea. – _Back to square one…_ \- how the hell did they start making out in Mementos?

“Y-yea… yea!” the blonde smirked, he could do this. Chicks liked confidence right?! And even if he screwed up already, he could make this work, he’d watched enough hentai and read enough doujin to know the basics of how things worked. – _just how to start?_ -

He looked at Makoto.

She looked at Ryuji.

The blonde kept his eyes on her, keeping her eyes on him, and did what was probably considered suicidal.

He reached out and touched her breast.

A blush seemed to make its way on Makoto’s face but she did not break the eye contact. Instead she stepped forward… and grabbed the front of his pants.

Ryuji squeaked, eye twitching as his entire face went completely red.

Oh the devilish smirk that rose on Queen’s face.

When he saw that look, Skull was back to the forefront of the boy’s mind. – _I’m not losing here!_ \- now it was his turn to step forward, pressing himself as close to Makoto as possible… and grabbed her ass.

He could see her swallow hard. There wasn’t much for her to up her game, balls were something of a trump card and she’d already played that.

Not that it mattered, with him so close, so hot as the warmth just radiated off his body, much more easily through his plain clothes then his Metaverse attire, it was affecting her more than she realized.

He was warm in her hand, his on her breast and butt were getting hotter, and his breath so close with that intense look in his dark brown eyes.

He was hot. Like this, he was definitely hot and it set a fire in her stomach, a desire that hadn’t been particularly kindled in her life before. She wanted to grab him, rub him, and do all kinds of things to him.

So she finally settled for grabbing his head, tugging hard at his short blonde hair, letting go of his crotch, and bringing one leg up around his waist, bringing him as close as possible as she devoured his mouth.

To say that wasn’t hot was like saying Ryuji was freezing right now.

He was on fire!

Grabbing Makoto around the waist, he pulled her closer as his tongue fought hers. Gone was the awkwardness from a moment ago, now it was challenge time. Queen and Skull had started things back in Mementos, and while Makoto and Ryuji may have sobered a bit since, they were back and on fire again.

She was hot, so hot, as he pulled her other leg up, the flexible and strong Class Prez wrapping them around his waist with ease, as he held her up. But there was fire between them. Already he was hard, getting harder as she messed with his hair, her tongue played in his mouth and he couldn’t get enough of her toned butt or her rubbing up against him.

Somehow they made it to the bed, Ryuji dropping Makoto on her back as he took a second to look at her.

 Ruffled hair, red skin and lips, crumbled clothes, her skirt and shirt riding up, and most of all her legs around his waist.

It made for an image that trumped nearly all his backlogged porn.

Apparently he was taking too long with his look as an annoyed look came over her face and she sat up, legs pulling him close and nearly knocking out his knees, forcing him to lean over and brace his hands at her sides.

The Queen smirked, whispering in his ear, “Take it off.”

The blonde nearly choked on his own saliva. It was way too hot getting told to do stuff, was he a weirdo for liking that? He didn’t even respond verbally, immediately nodding, standing up and grabbing the bottom of his shirt, whipping it off in a second.

A brunette brow rose, and the unsatisfied look told him that wasn’t what she meant.

That caused Ryuji to smirk, lowering his hands to his pants.

Slowly, teasingly he undid the button, amused how her red eyes suddenly became fixated despite the rising blush on her face. His fingers moved to his zipper and he could have sworn her pupils widened, her eyes never leaving his hands as they pulled the zipper all the way down.

But he wasn’t going to just let her have it like that, instead of moving his hands to pull his pants off, his hands grabbed her legs, rubbing along the calves nearly behind him and up, past the knee, and slowly, ever so slowly, made his way towards her hips.

He felt her shiver as he reached under her skirt, reaching around underneath her panties. He felt around the surprisingly soft muscle, messaging almost as he gathered up his courage to move forward. Both figuratively and literally. He was so close to that hidden gem, the thing girls were supposed to hide from boys like him.

– _what the heck am I doing here?!_ \- He didn’t deserve a girl like this! Hell he shouldn’t have been manhandling a girl like this!

Whatever further doubts he had were quickly dashed when, annoyed at his lack of action, Makoto reached forward, tugging his boxers down and revealed all of him.

There in front of her was Ryuji, all of him, at full mast cock and balls.

The first she’d ever seen in real life…

It made that fiery ache in her core burn and lick her lips. There were certain things she could do…

But Ryuji acted first, grabbing her hands and pushing her on her back. The boy had an intense stare in those dark brown eyes of his. They were almost black, and while one hand held hers above her head his other moved to undo the buttons on her collared shirt, efficiently enough to have it open in no time and spread wide.

She had no time to respond as he reached down with both hands, tugging down her bra and grabbed a breast in each hand.

It brought an immediate moan to Makoto’s lips, throwing her head back thanks to their sensitivity as he teased them.

Firm but not painful grips on the whole of her breasts, kneading them felt exquisite, only for it to get better as he leaned down and suckled at each nipple. Grabbing on pert areola with his teeth lightly and rolling the edges of the tight little bud with his tongue, garnering moans from his companion only to move to the other and give it the same treatment.

It was bliss, a torturous bliss.

The heat and wetness Makoto felt in her panties increased, feeling that distinct need to rub against something but he was in the way and doing such a fine job taunting. All she could do was pant, moan and grab his head, not sure what to do but knowing she wanted more.

Ryuji was lost in the woman below him, in the scent and sounds she was making as he tasted one nipple then the other. Hentai had taught him well enough women liked to have these played with and Makoto did not disappoint. He didn’t think he’d enjoy the sound as much as he did but each pant, grunt, moan, deep intake and whine had his dick throbbing, his balls hanging lower and the urge to touch himself increase.

He had to hold off, girls needed time right, which was what those doujin said after all. And he wanted nothing more than to please his Queen. And there was nothing more thrilling to see, as he opened his eyes and glanced up, then the look on her euphoric face, rolling back and gasping all because of him.

Without thinking Ryuji lowered himself onto Makoto, losing some footing as he played with her surprisingly enjoyable handhelds. The moment his unsheathed self touched her panties and the two organs touched, separated only by a thin bit of soaked fabric, both of them groaned.

It was what Makoto was missing and Ryuji desired. Her legs locked around his waist, pulling him closer and he thrust again, unknowingly rubbing that sensitive nub just above her lower lips.

Both moaned, his hands gripped her breasts and she held his head and back tight, nearly digging in her nails.

When they pulled away for a second they looked into each other’s eyes, red to dark brown, Queen to Skull… Makoto to Ryuji.

Both leaned forward and grabbed each other’s lips, giving a deep passionate kiss as once again they ground into one another, eating each other’s moans.

Makoto was the first to break contact, throwing her head back and holding her hands above her head in fists on the bed, “Please… before I lose it…”

“You… you sure?” the blonde panted hard, even this far, he needed to know, needed to make sure.

Pushing herself up enough to look at him seriously, breathing hard and more turned on than ever before in her life, “Ryuji…” she breathed in deep, “I said, now!”

A wicked smirk came over the boy’s face, “Yes, my Queen.”

Makoto would probably never say it out loud, but that one line made her even wetter.

In an instant her panties were gone, and while that action thrilled her, she was surprised by the delayed action. Pushing herself up she saw Ryuji pulling something out of his pocket, ripping it open with his teeth, which was surprisingly sexy, and pull out of all the things she did not think of, a condom.

Then she watched with absurd fixation as he put it on his hard member.

When Ryuji was done putting on the condom he looked up, noticing Makoto staring. He took a moment to see her looking at his dick, then realized what he’d just done, “Eh-heh… they sold them in the machine out fr-”

Immediately his lips were captured and he was brought forward on top of her. Who was he to argue with what the woman wanted?

Some momentum was lost with the thoughtful act, but that was quickly made up as both hands wondered. Makoto’s found his sac, tugging and messaging his low hanging balls, while one of his found her breast as the other delicately traveled up her leg.

She shivered, cupping him more and Ryuji groaned. But he was a man on a mission, he wanted this to be good for her, and the condom was a lot tighter than he thought.

He tried to focus, finding her wetness easy, and stroked the outsides lightly, accidently rubbing the nub above her slit and getting a moan for his efforts.

The boy smirked, rubbing her again there, enjoying the sound, moving his finger up and down and teasing her opening all at once. He could see her tensing up, feel her abandon his balls to grip at his shoulders and biting her lip.

It was so hot, just watching.

He slid one finger in, feeling how tight and moist she was inside and it sent a shiver all the way from his head to his tip.

She moaned, he moved his finger, she moaned more, he moved faster bit by bit and she started panting, moving to grip the blanket below her.

He couldn’t take it, tunnel vision taking over as he grabbed her hips, loving the feel as her legs immediately grabbed around his waist and her wet entrance rubbed against his wrapped up member.

For a moment they just looked at each other; ruffled, hair messed up on both, his bare chest, her open shirt and exposed breasts, the marks on his shoulders, her red lips.

He squeezed her thighs, rubbing himself along her entrance, hesitating for a moment…

“Ryuji…” she breathed out, leaning up enough to look at him, then pull him forward with her legs.

He smirked again, leaning over her and kissing her, almost chastely compared to earlier, speaking to her lips, “Okay.”

One hand gripped around his shoulder as he held her, letting her hand guide him.

With one thrust he was in and both groaned in a new way.

He held still, reading all about virgins and how it was painful for girls the first time…

“Move…” she breathed in his ear.

He could feel himself twitch inside, making her give a breathy moan, as he followed her command.

He moved, he thrust, he tried to find that pace to match her hips and not go too fast.

Apparently his eager movements weren’t quite right, as her hands moved to his hips, guiding them, as her moans went from grunts to long throaty moans and the poor boy had to hold back as much as possible to let her enjoy it.

For a moment he was terrified as he felt her tighten around him, squeezing tighter and tighter and for a moment he thought she was going to push him out. He responded by thrusting in deep, which seemed to send her over the edge as her head went back in a silent scream.

Ryuji could only blink, holding himself still as he watched her cum for the first time, with him inside and holy damn was it hot. His hand gripped next to her head as he swallowed hard, fighting the urge to move as sweat poured down his face.

Was he supposed to move? Continue? Hentai didn’t really go into much more than a girl coming once so…

His head was quickly grabbed from behind, Makoto finding his mouth needed to be put to use, on her breasts, and her hips moved, signally he needed to keep going.

Who was he to argue?!

Least it was fun. Ryuji supported himself on one arm, grabbing one breast and suckling the other like before, getting more moans from his senpai as he thrust further, deeper, harder…

Everything started getting hazy for both, Makoto coming again, and this time Ryuji didn’t stop, moving to kiss her, devouring her moans as he moved harder, faster, trying to find his release despite how tight she and the condom were. It was great, blissful, so much better then reading porn for both of them. Soon they were just lost in each other’s bodies.

Eventually he gave up completely on moving his hands, needing the support, gripping her hips to find the right pace for his own release, having forgotten how many times she’d come. Each time a tighter grip, a tease of his tip and every moan a beautiful assault on his ears. He couldn’t hold out much longer.

“Pah-please,” Makoto managed between moans, “Ri-yu-ji… come… for… me!”

His whole body shook, “YES!” another thrust as he felt his tip twitch, “MY!” a deeper thrust, his balls clinched as he felt her tightening around him again, “QUEEN!!”

They both came screaming and the whole world went white.

It took what felt like a long time for the world to come back into focus for Ryuji.

When it did he heard the sound of a faucet turning off and someone moving round. He felt cold and sticky. Looking around everything looked stupidly red.

A door opened next to him and he looked, finding what looked to be Makoto in a towel.

Her red eyes blinked for a moment, realizing he was awake and blushed immediately.

Ryuji just stared. She was naked, in a towel, with her hair wet…

“Did we just have sex?” was his immediate question.

A small smirk picked at her lips, “About ten minutes ago…”

“Oh…” he blinked, still trying to register that information, “Cool…”

Makoto blushed a little, feeling a bit funny from the experience and finding it harder and harder to not just drool all over Ryuji’s prone body, “Y-you might want to get dressed, our time’s almost up…”

“R-right,” he sat up and rubbed his head, trying to stop himself from looking back and watching as she got dressed. Was that weird to do? They had just had sex, right? Was it weird to watch her get dressed? She was really hot and he’d just seen all of that… sort of…

Makoto was dressed in record time, glancing at her watch, grabbing her purse and heading towards the door. She paused with the handle in her hand, chewing on her lip before turning back to the boy still sitting dazed on the bed. She really couldn’t look at him without blushing… not after seeing, and _feeling_ all of that, “I…” her mouth ran dry, not sure what to say and panicking, “I’ll see you tomorrow!” and quickly she opened the door and left.

“Yea,” Ryuji absentmindedly waved at air, “See ya…”

He’d just had sex with Queen, with Makoto, with the Class President of his school…

What the hell was he supposed to do now?!


	5. Rank 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Figured its been a week, here's some more~

8/29 – Rank 5

_R: Hey!_

_…_

_R: Can we talk?_

_…_

_R: be at our place~_

_…_

_R: Ya know, Mementos?_

_…_

_R: See ya there_

_…_

_R: please?_

_…_

_R: Just wanna talk_

Makoto just stared at her phone, chewing on her lip.

It wasn’t that she had been particularly avoiding Ryuji… just… stuff, kept coming up!

Like all that stuff with Futaba, and Student Council… and that stupid, stupid, goddamn stupid! Beach trip.

Which had been today.

What the hell had she expected? Honestly?

Ryuji, and really all the guys, were drooling over Ann, again. Who was she to think that’d be different? Wasn’t like there was anything between them? Ha! That was funny, they’d just had sex, that was it, most adults have casual sex with friends, it was nothing… really… nothing…

She banged her head against her desk.

Who the hell was she kidding, it had meant more to her at the time then she realized. Sure, it was desperate. Sure, it was stupid. And yes! Maybe the entire motivation there had been ‘if I’m going to jail for the next two decades of my life  I want to at the very least experience being an adult and having sex with a mildly hot guy’. Was it selfish? Completely. Was it dumb? ABSO-FREAKIN’-LUTELY!

Now she wanted the dumb blonde. Not in the normal ‘oh he’s cute’ high school kind of way, she physically wanted him and a repeat of their time at that love hotel.

And maybe… maybe something a bit more.

He had been sweet, which she had not expected from Ryuji.

It was weird, they started out fighting because she was stressed out, and the best way she’d come to dealing with that was hitting shadows with him as her back up. And when he showed concern for her wellbeing, she’d hit him… and instead of caving, he hit back. Treated her like an equal in a fight, which was more than she could say for a lot of her other male opponents.

He had respected her.

And what did she do? Panic! Take advantage of him!

She was the damn adult here and she’d… it was so stupid!

And then she’d just left, and like an _adult_ had been avoiding situations where the two of them would be alone together. Just to… she didn’t quite know, avoid him?

When that was really as far from what she wanted as anything could get.

She wanted to touch him again, kiss him again, have him look at her like he did when he said ‘yes, my Queen!’ Never before had her codename given her such shivers, it was intoxicating.

She wanted more, and that was bad. Right?

But for him? She was what? – _Second best, clearly…_ -

It had stung far more than it should have, the way he was looking at Ann. It made her want to punch both of them.

Which she _knew_ was completely unfair to Ann. Her junior had no idea what she was getting between when she showed up in her bikini and being the damn picture perfect model she was.

- _Completely irrational_ \- that was the summary of her past week and some. Just completely irrational.

She should have known better, she should have known better, she should have known better…

She could not repeat that enough!

Thankfully her sister hadn’t noticed anything different about her behavior… or appearance as she was afraid Sae would just somehow _‘know_ ’ and she had no idea what her elder sister would do then.

It was a completely terrifying thought. Relationships had never really figured in her life before, and especially not premarital casual sex.

What the hell had her life become? First the Phantom Thieves, now this?!

Groaning, she stared at her phone.

She really owed Ryuji something. She’d been the one to push, then pushed him away. Then got stupidly jealous over nothing…

She needed to tell him something.

Meaning they needed to talk… like he wanted.

“Clearly… a text will not do.” She frowned, typing out a quick reply before leaving.

\-----

_M: be there soon._

Ryuji was biting his lip, trying to not smile too wide.

Things had been a bit hectic and weird since the night before the Medjed fallout. Jeez, it would have been nice if they’d known the weird little NEET, Futaba, was the REAL Medjed and could handle all their problems in a second, else him and Queen might not have panicked so much the night before the deadline and… well…

He wasn’t going to say he regretted having sex with her. It was the greatest night of his life so far. Just the sights, the sounds, the feel of her, everything was so… so everything! It was great! Better than any hentai he’d watched or doujin he’d read. Why did people bother with those when they could have the real thing?

But that brought him to his current problem: Makoto.

She’d been avoiding him. Which, fine he could get. They had a lot of stuff to do thanks to the whole deal with Futaba, and trying to socialize the little NEET, but beyond that…

She hadn’t been responding to his texts, been basically completely blanking him. They’d had time off thanks to the whole Medjed thing, but… it was weird.

He wanted to talk to her, to be close to her, to go back to hitting shadows with her while riding her bike…

Had having sex really made that much of a difference? Had it ruined something they’d already been building?

He didn’t regret it, and wouldn’t trade it for anything, hell he’d do it again with her in a heartbeat if she asked but… did that mean he had to give up everything else he liked about them being together?

It was fun, watching the normally so prim and proper Class President punch the literal life out of shadows, or do crazy stunts with her persona-bike while he was joyriding behind her and hitting things with his bat.

Would he trade that for just a… he didn’t know, one of ‘ _those_ ’ relationships where chicks and dudes only get together to have sex?

That’d be… fun, he guessed, but would that be enough?

Makoto was like their boss, she helped coordinate their Phantom Thief stuff. She was the Class President of their school. She did all this crazy cool Akido stuff in the Metaverse and next to that damn cat Morgana was one of their healers that kept them alive there, along with being a total badass.

Could he keep those separate? The cool badass Queen and the woman he had sex with? Or went joyriding with? That had been hard enough, not telling the others, but this? He wasn’t supposed to right?

Did that mean he had to just pretend it never happened?

Was that what Makoto wanted?

“Ryuji!”

The familiar voice caught his attention and the blonde punk looked out. There, across the walk was the Class Prez, Queen… Makoto.

She didn’t really wave at him, but she had her phone out and there was this intense look about her eyes.

He pulled out his own phone, figuring what she might want. Privacy. While there weren’t a lot of people out at the station this late it never hurt to have an added barrier.

He nodded to her and they both hit the Nav on their phones; the world shifted red and purple with an acrid smell in the air. Queen and Skull stood a walkway apart.

“H-Hey! Queen!” he nervously waved, big smile, trying to be normal, “I-I got us some stuff,” he held up a bag absolutely full of energy drinks, “F-Figured we could go bust some heads, today was kinda… hehe,” his chuckle was nervous as she’d yet to move, “Well, got me stoked ya know! So, c’mon! Let’s-let’s go get some shadows, ‘kay?”

Still Queen didn’t move.

“H-hey… Makoto?” he spoke softer, taking a few more steps towards her, “Y-you gonna say something?” nope, she was still and not said a word. He stepped closer, “C’mon, I-I know things… things have been… well, _different_ , eheheh…” another nervous laugh, no movement so his feet took him closer. Now Ryuji was an arm’s length from the older woman. He pouted, holding the bag of cans over his shoulder.

He sighed, “I’m sorry…”

“Why…” finally she said something!

Only he had no idea how to answer. Scratching around his mask Skull looked around, trying to find anything that would spark something. Nothing reached out to help him, “Er… well, dunno,” another scratch, glancing at her with dark brown eyes, “Figured, you were mad at me… f-for what happened…” he’d sing from the rooftops how much he wouldn’t regret what they did… but he knew that didn’t mean she wasn’t the same. – _Shit, man, I must’a messed up bad somehow…_ -

He only had a second as red eyes notched up surrounded in metal as a warning, before Queen stomped on the ground in a heavy stance and sent a powerful fist to his gut.

“Wha-ugh!” Skull immediately hit the ground.

“That’s for hitting on Ann…” and Queen walked passed him, deliberately swaying her leather clad hips as she bent down to pick up the bag of cans.

“Duly… noted… my Queen…” Skull managed to pick himself up, support himself with one hand on his knee before being mesmerized for a moment. A stupid grin coming to his mouth momentarily, “For what it’s worth… your ass looks better…”

A _light_ smirk was thrown over the road warrior’s shoulder, along with a Diarama.

Skull shivered at the light feeling of invigoration he got after every heal, now associating something special to Queen’s specifically because… well he’d rather be healed by her then the damn cat.

As a show of gratitude he clicked his heels together and gave a dramatic bow, laying it on pretty thick, “Thank you, My Queen.”

“I might get used to that,” she threw over her shoulder, stopping to stare into the darkness of Mementos in a pose with her hand on her cocked hip.

Ryuji smirked, he wouldn’t mind calling her that every time she healed him, hell in front of everyone if it got that sass from her. It was really cute.

“Was that all you had to apologize for?” then came that question.

Skull tilted his head, “Huh?”

Queen turned back, red eyes serious as she looked at him through steel, “Hitting on Ann, is that all you have to apologize for?”

“Eh-heh, well…” he was scratching the back of his head nervously, “Really, I didn’t know I was apologizing for that?” he coughed when her glare returned, “I mean I wouldn’t, cause well, I’m a _guy_ and it’s only natural I’d be attracted to her cause she’s hot,” those red eyes got narrower and he suddenly felt he should guard his boys, “But-but-but, hey hear me out!!” Ryuji panicked, waving his hands about, “Truth is… I didn’t know if I _could_ hit on you… in public, around the other guys… cause, ya know… that’d be kinda weird, me suddenly admitting that the Class Prez’s got a better ass then Ann’s, whose a model, and really I kinda learned smaller ain’t worse with those handhelds, and-”

“PLEASE! SHUT UP!” Makoto shouted, turning red and absolutely embarrassed despite it just being the two of them. She turned, putting a hand on her face and tried to calm her raging heartbeat. How the hell was she supposed to stay mad at him when he went and said all _THAT_ without even… missing a beat. Just, _BAM!_ Out there?

“Ehehehehe,” the blonde chuckled to himself, finding Queen getting all flustered pretty adorable, “Well, to be fair, I might be a bit biased,” he nodded his head, blushing a bit himself, “You’re kinda the first girl I ever seen naked, in real life, not to mention having sex with…”

Queen turned back with a mild glare, still covering the lower half of her face that was completely red, “You’re so vulgar.”

“Yea, but ya love me for it!” Skull blindly laughed at the comment, not _really_ meaning anything by it.

Makoto just blushed more, not sure how to respond.

“But, hey,” when the boy stopped laughing and opened his eyes, he looked at her with sincerity, the same kind of sincerity she had seen that night when he worried about her, “For what it’s worth, I liked it, I mean… I get… I get I’m not… like…” he nervously ran his hand through his hair, “The number one choice, alright, I mean I’m… I’m me…” Skull tried to pull off a cheesy smile but it didn’t quite work, “so, guess…. Guess I was apologizing for… if I did anything wrong, if I ruined anything, that-that’s all…”

Red eyes watched the boy give a sincere confession, again. He really had a knack for surprising her. How simply he could put things, make them… not as intense anymore. Yea, that was one way to put it.

Quickly Queen walked up to Skull and took his hand, surprising the pirate themed thief, “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for… putting you in this position.”

“Don’t be!” one hand was behind his head, still nervous as he tried to laugh it off, “If anything that was pretty hot, actually…”

She blushed again, trying to look away, “I’m also… sorry… for flaking out on you… I was… well…”

“Hey,” he finally lowered his hand, putting it on her shoulder and drawing her attention up to him, giving a more genuine smile, “S’cool, a’ight? We had a good night, that’s all that matters,” he lowered his hand, taking both of hers in his, shaking them, “Friends?”

Makoto gave a deep sigh of relief, shaking her hands in his, “Friends.”

Skull couldn’t help but smirk, leaning in closer to her, “Friends with benefits?”

Now, she knew the term. Knew its implication. And well… considering they’d already done it once… Queen smirked, despite the small blush, and looked at the dark eyed boy, “We’ll see…” and quickly kissed him on the lips. She’d been dying to do it all week, so it may have been a bit too intense for how short it was.

Then she let go of his hands, grabbed the cans and walked back to the entrance of Mementos, smirking over her shoulder and showing off as much as she could, “So, are you coming?”

At those words Skull snapped out of his stupor, pumping both fists and getting a surprisingly lecherous grin, “Yes, My Queen!”

And the two set off for an evening of intense exercise in Mementos with perhaps a cool down at the same love hotel as before.


	6. Hawaii Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's more! *throws* i should really be this organized with my other works~

9/10 – Hawaii Trip

_R: Hey! What’s Up!_

_R: This trip is kinda blowing_

_R: What’cha doin’?_

Makoto stared at her phone, rolling her red eyes at Ryuji’s explosion of texts. Clearly he must have been bored.

- _Knowing him he’s out looking at all the ‘hot American girls’_ -

She rolled her eyes again for good measure, texting him back.

_M: Bored hunting American beauties already?_

She wasn’t being snide, she swore she wasn’t.

Putting her phone down she continued looking over the room assignments, tasks and whatever else the school had thrown in her lap with their last minute assignment for third years to help chaperone the first and second years on their trip. Here she had been planning to actually _use_ the few free days without… well, _distractions_ , such as the other Phantom Thieves, or the temptation of punching shadows and joyriding with Ryuji… in various senses, to get back to her studies… and be studious.

Her eyes momentarily darted to the bag of books she had stumblingly brought. Sighing to herself as she remembered to bring those… but not a proper bathing suit. To Hawaii.

_R: Hey, they’re good to look at_

_R: all these babes with huge breasts_

_R: not a lot of ass though_

_R: You’re still the Queen there_

_R: ;P_

Her phone went off again and after reading the context she couldn’t help but blush and shake her head. Was that seriously a compliment or not? – _Ryuji you idiot_ \- despite his blunt flirtations there was something stupidly sweet about his honesty. Least she was just going to say that to explain why she was blushing.

_M: You’re an idiot_

_M: Why do you bother hitting on every girl that moves?_

Okay, maybe she was being a bit pouty.

She cared about Ryuji, in a physical way… platonic… whatever, they weren’t romantically involved, just… having fun. Yea, that’s what it was, having fun!

But seriously, if he ever planned on keeping a girl he’d have to stop his wondering eyes… who knows what his next girl might do, he was lucky she knew he didn’t really care. Yea, course she didn’t.

_R: Maybe cuz its fun to get you all jealous_

_R: ;P_

_R: Queen is so cute when she wants to beat up other girls for lil’ old me!_

She stared at her phone as it went off again, and despite how mad it made her, realizing he was teasing her, she couldn’t help but laugh.

_M: Stupid jerk_

The response was practically immediate.

_R: :D_

_R: Ya love me for it!_

That response of his, which had been becoming more and more common always made her blush. She didn’t love Ryuji… she was just… physically attracted to him, yea! That was it. They had a physical relationship that was equivalently satisfactory. Mutually satisfying. Just a way to relieve stress and pass the time.

She _totally_ was just thinking about their shadow extermination… not… _other_ … activities that may have also continued despite neither really mentioning it nor really asking. They just, wound up at the hotel after shadow slaying in Mementos, and it was… relaxing. Yea.

_M: doing anything right now?_

She put her phone down, not expecting an answer any time soon, or mean anything by it. It was just a simple question. Nothing really. She had school work to do after all, she was clearly busy, just curious about what he’d planned to do next.

_R: Honestly… nothing_

_R: Though I can think of something ;P_

_R: seeing as you’re likely sitting in your room surrounded by boring school work_

Red eyes glared at her phone. He had her there.

_M: I will find out how you know that_

The response was there before she could even set her phone down.

_R: Cause I’m psychic~_

_R: I know what you’re heart is really like_

_R: what it REEEEEAAAAALLLLYYY wants ;P_

_R: I can be by in a second, just gotta ditch these guys_

She hated he was right. Hated so damn much he was right.

Staring at her book work she felt nothing. No urge, no demand, no desire to even look at it.

Looking at her phone on the other hand…

_M: You’ve got five minutes_

Leaning back against the pillow on her hotel bed, Makoto smirked, wondering how close he was going to cut it.

\-----

Ryuji stood at the door with barely a minute to spare, some candy he nabbed from the gift shop, a flower he _may_ have picked from outside, and nervous as all hell.

Hawaii. Hotel Room. Makoto.

- _My Queen!_ -

His mind was racing, excited, worried, freaking out, ready for anything she wanted! Hell as far as he was concerned they could just get into a wrestling match on the bed or watch on-demand American tv and he’d be happy. – _Course I know that ain’t gonna happen, but still a nice thought…_ -

Hell the whole reason he’d gone babe-hunting (Mishima totally called it that! Not him!) was because he was bored and didn’t want to dwell on anything. He figured she’d be doing something important… like school related or something, so figured she wouldn’t have time for him and his… _ideas_ … and weird desire to just hang out… or hit shadows with her which they totally couldn’t do cause they were in HAWAII!! And well… American girls were hot… but for some reason they just didn’t hold as much attention for him as they used to. – _Must be cause they were all such snobs…_ \- yea, must’a been it!

Wasn’t like he was wanting to hang out with Makoto and was sulking because he couldn’t, pfft, that was silly!

Besides, Queen was calling, he had to man up and be cool about this! It’d be a first for them… daytime and not after being exhausted from Shadows and… and alone… with her… in a hotel room… a _normal_ Hotel Room!

Some part of him inside was squealing.

The door opened before he even had a chance to set himself straight, red eyes just flatly staring at him with a raised brunette brow before Makoto quickly glanced down the halls then looked back at him, “You realize you have about ten seconds?” Queen smirked, leaning on the door _nonchalant_ , “So, if you’d like to come in-!!”

Whatever she said was cut off as the boy shoved the pilfered flower and local candies in her hands and rushed inside the open door.

Makoto only had the time to blink, check the halls again to make sure no one noticed the _Class President_ allowing a _boy_ into her room before swiftly closing the door and looking at what was in her hands. A plucked orange flower, it looked like the main flower of a Hibiscus, and a bag of what looked to be chocolate covered macadamia nuts.

She blinked again, walking down the short hotel entryway into the main room, “I wasn’t expecting gifts?”

The blonde boy just chuckled, sitting on the bed like a kid, holding his ankles and looking completely innocent, “Yea, well, figured… had them anyway, wouldn’t hurt right?” he shrugged, holding both hands out, “Sides, you like chocolate right? Girls-girls like chocolate right?”

At his ridiculous answer Makoto couldn’t help a wry look, “Generally…” she put the gifts down on the table with the TV, before turning back to the boy with a much more confident, Queen-like look, “So…”

“So…?” now he was scratching behind his head, voice cracking slightly with that dopey innocent smile.

Red eyes grew sharp as Queen’s smirk grew, “Take off your clothes.”

“Yes, Ma’am!” immediately the boy jumped up, hand going to the hem of his shirt and it was quickly relocated to the floor. It was as his hands made it to his belt and shorts button that he paused, looking at her with an odd smirk, “Ya know, we are in a luxury American Hotel, we could just watch some bad local TV or something…” his hand leisurely undid the buckle of his belt and started to slide it loop by loop slowly, “Don’t have to do all this for lil’ ol me~ as much fun as it is…”

“Who said it was for you,” Red eyes were practically glowing as her voice turned dark as she watched him undress. There was something… fun, about having the ability to give an order and have it carried out immediately, even if Ryuji liked to tease her sometimes.

Skull’s vicious smirk rose on the boy’s face, pulling the belt out fully and flicking it in Queen’s direction, making a nice loud _snap!_ That had both shivering, “Well, if you insist…”

Makoto’s stare was intense. It wasn’t that she didn’t like his little offer, it would have been nice… but ‘nice’ wasn’t why they were here, why they got together. They wound up together to hunt down shadows and satisfy baser needs, she’d come to accept this about their relationship. It was interesting, not necessarily unique from what she knew of some friendships thanks to her exposure being, what was effectively, the school snoop. She knew things weren’t always cut and dry, let alone romantic, sometimes it was just physical and… and that was okay. She could deal with that. It was fine just how it was.

Besides, staring at his trim runner’s body was really calling out to her loins to play with him, why in the world would she be considering anything else?

With arms crossed and a burning look in her red eyes, Queen pushed off the wall she had been leaning on as she watched him, taking a step in front as he had been unbuttoning his pants and smirked when he paused to look at her with surprise. She raised one hand, put her finger on the center of his chest and pushed him forward, intent obvious.

Skull just gave that fanged smirk of his, leaning back with the finger push and lying flat out on the bed with his arms out straight, “Please, have your way with me, My Queen!”

“I just might,” was her confidant response as she started to undo the top two buttons of her collared shirt. She leaned down, moving her hands to his pants, purposely giving him a good view of her modest cleavage down her open shirt, and started working on his pants herself.

It was obvious he was already hard, just the idea of them having sex again probably got him worked up. She would admit it had gotten her a little hot and bothered as well, which was probably why she had hung out by the door, spying out the peephole waiting for him. Surprised when he hesitated, even more so that he’d brought gifts.

Her hands moved up from his inner thighs, enjoying the position over him, amused as he didn’t so much as budge. Only tensing as one hand moved to cup his balls through his pants, the other moving up the zipper, up his shaft, grabbing metal and pulling down slowly.

“ _MAKO-CHAN!!_ ” there was suddenly a click at the door and voice coming through it.

Both looked up with wide eyes, catching each other’s surprise for a second.

Makoto was the first to move, pointing at him in a gesture that clearly said ‘don’t move’ and ran to the door, intercepting the person at it.

“ _Huh? What’s with the door?_ ” it was higher pitched, clearly a girl and Ryuji cursed, it must have been Makoto’s roommate!

“Sorry, Haru-chan!” Makoto’s voice was high pitched and cheery as she messed with the door, taking longer than necessary to unlock it, poking her head through the door with a fake smile and making sure to block it as much as possible, “Was there something you needed?”

“Hmm!” the bright eyed girl with chin-length curly auburn hair blinked at the Class President, “Oh, yea! Mako-chan! I came to get you since Kawakami-sensei wasn’t available!”

Makoto could hear a snicker behind her, wondering what Ryuji knew that she didn’t, “Oh, sorry, was it something quick, I’m in the middle of something…”

“Oh really? Can I join?!” hopefully Haru would never know how much that question had the two Phantom Thieves cringe.

“N-no, sorry,” there was clear reluctance from Makoto, hoping the cheery girl would get the hint, “I’m helping another girl with some study material and she’s a bit shy, doesn’t really like working with others, I hope you understand.”

“Oh, okay…” something crossed those brown eyes as Haru looked at the class president, “Well, I just wanted to know what we’re supposed to be doing right now, because I don’t have anything planned…”

“Well there’s supposed to be a luau right now on the beach, along with some other trips, I’m sure there’s a group around that can take you with them…” Queen was screaming in her head that this girl better leave ASAP.

“Hmm… alright, I’ll try to find one of the other teachers, they should know more right?” Haru gave that cheery smile, like everything was okay, “Hey, mind if I ask what’s the girl’s name? Make sure her roommate knows where she is?”

On the bed, as he’d not moved a muscle as per Queen’s orders, Ryuji cringed. They were so screwed!

“Yes, it’s Kimiko Masashi, like I said she’s really shy so if you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to helping her out.” Makoto didn’t even miss a beat.

That odd look entered Haru’s eyes again, like she was mulling the information over again, “Oh, okay…” then her bubbly nature seemed to reassert itself and she waved at the class president, “Well then, I’ll see you later tonight Mako-chan!” and she started off down the hall.

“See you later, Haru-chan!” Makoto gave a decent wave before turning back into the room and making sure to lock the door and put on the latch this time.

When she walked back to the bed, Ryuji was just staring at her.

“What?” red eyes blinked.

“You had that set up pretty nicely, Class Prez,” he gave that cheeky grin, “Thought we were boned when she asked a name~”

Queen just gave that deadly smirk, standing in front of the prone boy, “I just used the name of a student I knew wouldn’t be around for anyone to question…” she crossed her arms, looking slightly away, “Besides, I’ve gotten used to lying about who I’m meeting, I tell my sister I’m studying with a female friend who got poor grades on her last exams…”

Ryuji watched her stony face. Queen, Makoto was good at hiding her emotions, keeping them off her face but her eyes always told the truth. She didn’t like lying, especially not to her sister. He sat up, pushing himself to sit at the edge of the bed, propping himself to look up at her, “Hey, least you’re about half right,” he raised one hand, sliding it under her white collared shirt, popping the lowest button, pulling it out of her skirt and just smoothly moving his hand up her stomach, “We’re friends, and we’re ‘studying’, and I did suck on the last exams,” he smirked up at her, wrapping his other hand under her shirt, around her back and pulling her into his lap, “Only thing is, I’m not a girl…”

Makoto swallowed hard at his boldness. He was comforting her, she could tell, he was always so hot and soft when he did this, gentle but firm touches. But feeling his hard on from his open pants, the only thing separating them in this position was both their underwear, she was acutely aware of both their other desires, “That’s such a good thing,” she whispered in a darker voice, a hair away from growling at him as one hand went into his blonde hair and the other cupped his sweet face. Even when he had Skull’s devious smirk it was still sweet, “Now, I believe you have some work to do?” she pushed down, using her position to her advantage as she ground down on him.

He groaned, his hands gripping around her, “Careful,” his voice growled, “I might just rip this shirt, then what’ll you do?” he didn’t want to push too fast, but he was excited, and judging by how much wetness he could feel from her grind, she was too.

Makoto pushed down again, whispering in his ear, “I’ve got three more…” it was an invitation, one that if she weren’t clearly out of her mind right now, she never would have made.

Ryuji just made a mild groan, leaning back, pulling her with him, and pushed his arms up till her shirt was at the point of breaking buttons, rolled up on her back and held on by three pieces of plastic and string. Thankfully she was spared a broken shirt, as he moved his hands to her front, unbuttoning the last vestiges of protection for her upper body and quickly demanded a kiss in return for his chivalry.

It was deep, passionate, and only separated by moments of Makoto throwing off her collared shirt, then being impatient taking off her bra as well. She was enjoying her position on top, enjoying the leverage and power it afforded her, and easy to do and take as she pleased.

His hands were on her back, undoing the button that held on her skirt and all she did was grab his hands and moved them to the front, right where she wanted them.

The boy seemed to blink momentarily, bucking his hips to be a jerk, before squeezing her beasts and grinning against her lips.

They were both hot, in need, and already in a bit of rush as they’d been interrupted once. Time to get this done.

After a few more squeezes and kisses, both seemed to work in tandem, her hands going to his boxers, pushing them down as his hands went to her panties. His shorts weren’t even off and Makoto only separated from him long enough to get one leg out of her panties, never mind her skirt. They did _not_ want to be disturbed again.

She could feel his hot cock, hard and slick with both precum and her own juices, as his soft head was exposed both seemed to want each other.

“W-wait!” Ryuji fought with himself to push her off, Queen could be very strong and forceful when she wanted, and each time her pussy ground against his dick was a moment of eternal pleasure but sparked a ton of dread, “Gotta… get…” he struggled to grab the package out of his pocket, making sure he had it as each movement of her hips and inner thighs was torture, “Got it!”

Makoto managed to open her eyes, seeing through her haze long enough to see what he had in hand. Of course, it was another condom, the dumb boy grinning like a champion as he held it out. She just looked at him, knowing better then to roll her eyes since he was right, being responsible and all, but her sex-driven mind was just currently annoyed at the lack of pleasure, “How do you always have one of those?”

“Hey, when I’ve got a hot babe after me, best to be prepared,” he chuckled, taking the prophylactic out of the wrapper, pushing her back a bit and put it on.

Again, she had a strange fixation to watch him do it.

Which Skull knew all about, he liked having those red eyes on his man meat, taking the chance to put himself in one hand and stroke it long and hard once, twice, just to get a rise out of her. It was a fun game.

Queen just pushed him down into the bed, claiming his lips, and his member in her hand, stroking him through the plastic as she riled herself back up again.

Skull just chuckled, liking the forceful way she could get when disrupted, “Hey, Queen,” he whispered against her lips, dark brown eyes looking straight into hers, imagining their masks on, “How ‘bout you ride me like Johanna?”

Surprisingly that got a brow raised, and a wicked smirk from the girl on top, “Is that a request?”

“Just a suggestion, My Queen,” he gave that cocky smirk, sliding his hands down her form, landing on her hips and pushing down, causing both of them to groan as he entered her.

There was a deep sigh above him, her hands gripping his shoulders, and her knees tucking into his sides, “If… if you insist, Skull…”

The blonde growled at that. She never really called him that, but it sounded just so sexy. Keeping his strong grip on her hips he moved her, hopping it wasn’t too soon, but eager to try this out.

He learned fairly quickly that he had very little control in this position… it was hot.

Makoto’s body was sprawled out across his, supporting herself on his shoulders and raised enough both could feel her breasts brush against his chest each time she ground into him. Up, down, forward and back, she moved in a way that felt right, ironically just like how she rode her motorcycle-persona.

It got to a point she had to throw her head back, finding that good angle and speed, hitting the nub in front right at the base of his cock. It felt good, too good.

Ryuji felt her body tense, her motions become erratic and start to shudder, and when she stopped he couldn’t handle it. He grabbed her hips and pushed down while thrusting up, keeping her going when clearly she couldn’t anymore.

That caused her to curl her back and scream to the ceiling as her lower lips tightened all around him. God it felt so good, for both of them.

The blonde just growled, spurred on by the look of her cuming above him, breasts bouncing, sweat forming on her body as she moaned louder than before.

Soon after she collapsed on top of him and Ryuji just held her close, feeling her hips moving again, as he pushed forward, seeking his own release. He held her back, kissed her shoulder, pushed his knees up to get some better leverage as he kept going inside her.

Her breathing picked up again, pushing in his ear hot and desperate pants, slowly evolving into moans again, and he pushed further. Makoto eventually had to push up, support herself with her hands on either side of the blonde’s head, not even caring as her breasts were in his face bouncing back and forth with their motion.

It mattered when he managed to catch one with his mouth, sucking on her nipple, causing her arms to buckle and nearly fall on him.

It didn’t matter, the slip, both were moaning, grunting and close to cuming, again for her and Ryuji just kissed her, swallowing all her sexy sounds as he grunted back, giving one, two, three more good thrusts before his balls pulled up tight and he could feel himself explode.

She squeezed all around him and the world just went white.

This time he came too panting, hearing her softer ones at his ear and found himself laughing, “That was… fun… thanks for the ride…”

“You’re welcome…” Makoto took in a deep breath, enjoying the feel of being completely drained on top of him. This was a much more physically active position for her, it was nice.

“Heh,” Ryuji smiled, dopey and half conscious, “Are you gonna leave again?”

She shook her head, not responding otherwise.

“Cool…” he sighed, “I’mma… I’mma pass out now… then take a shower…”

That got a chuckle out of the woman on top of him but both were too tired to do anything else.

\-----

By the time Ryuji left her room, they had tried a few more things, failed at shower sex to the point neither wanted to talk about it, and actually wound up watching some dumb American tv neither could understand. They ended up switching to the Japanese channel which was playing an anime rerun just because it didn’t require subtitles. And may have had some more fun instead of really watching it.

“Hey, thanks,” Makoto managed to tell him before he went out the door, “F-for the gifts…”

He just gave that cheeky smile, “Yea, no prob, figured girls like chocolate right?”

Red eyes rolled as she pulled out something from behind her back, “Here.”

“Hmm?” Ryuji looked at what she was offering him, it was a necklace with one of those weird faced wood carvings, “What’s this?”

“It-it’s just, a silly thing I saw in the gift shop, figured it’d make a good souvenir.” She wasn’t looking at him. It still surprised him that an hour ago she could be giving him sexy orders and now she could barely look at him giving a gift.

- _So cute_!- he just smiled, taking the thing before she could take it back and tossing it over his head, “Thanks Mako-chan, I’ll treasure it!” he was being serious.

Not that she took it that way. Crossing her arms and looking away with a blush she managed to stutter out, “It-it’s just a souvenir, since you gave me all that,” she nudged her shoulder in the direction of the chocolate covered macadamias and hibiscus flour.

Without warning Ryuji kissed her cheek, smirking at the wide eyed look she gave him, “Hey, thanks.”

Stumped she just blinked, “Yes, of course.”

And like that he was gone, and Makoto was still blushing, all the way up until they boarded their plane back to Japan and she noticed he was still wearing the Tiki Necklace she gave him.


	7. Rank 6

9/18 – Rank 6

_R: Need to hit something_

_R: Heading to Mementos_

_R: Could use a ride?_

Makoto stared at her phone chewing her lip.

On the one hand she wanted to go beat up shadows as much as Ryuji… and maybe a few other things to help get her mind off the culminated BULLSHIT that had been the past week. On the other hand, most of said bullshit was Ryuji’s fault.

If he hadn’t been acting like such an ass they might have gone to Mementos earlier together and caught that stupid cat in the act before all this. If they had then that stupid cat would have probably caught them and then they’d have had to explain why they were in Mementos together… fighting shadows. And nothing else.

She really wanted to be mad at Ryuji but the truth was she was more pissed off at that stupid big mouthed cat then him. Ryuji had been right to be pissed at the cat, always saying stupid stuff and mouthing off about how important he was when really he did next to nothing.

Ryuji had just been the one to say it out loud, but surely she hadn’t been the only one silently nodding along.

Then the big fuss he pulled, well both of them, all for it to turn into such a useless mess.

Makoto was so over it, all of it. they’d had a simple plan to get into Okumura’s place and get his heart, but noooooo… stupid boy-cat drama had to side track them.

The only good thing to come out of the entire, useless, ordeal was that Haru had joined their team and thanks to her being Okumura’s daughter they basically had unlimited access to his palace…

Not that they were investigating it or anything, their Leader’s social life seemed to only be capable of handling one crisis at a time so the venture to steal Okumura’s heart was on hold for a short bit.

Particularly thanks to a certain cat fiasco.

She wanted to bitch out Ryuji face-to-face, have another fight with him when he pulled this bullshit a week ago… but now? Honestly she agreed with him and now just wanted to hit things out of frustration.

His text couldn’t have come at a more perfect time, she was in the mood to hit something too.

\-----

Ryuji was stooped by the opening to Shibuya station when she arrived, bag of energy drinks in hand and a capricious look on his face.

The blonde held out his hand, “Now just wait, before you lay in on me,” he stood, putting his hands in his pockets as he slouched looking down, “Just wanted to say I’m sorry for all this bullshit, alright, I know I eff’ed up, okay, don’t gotta pull any of that psycho babble on me, alright…”

The brunette just crossed her arms, raising a brow, “Please, do continue…” there was a little wave of her top hand and maybe a tiny smirk rising on her face.

Dark brown eyes glared, “Tch, I’m tryin’ to be sincere here!” he growled, looking away again while scratching his head, “No, damnit, that’s not… I’m not trying to yell at you, I know you’ve been working extra hard cause this bullshit between me an’ Mona…”

“Mmhmm,” she gave a curt nod, waiting to hear the rest.

“And, like I said, I was being an ass…” his fist was visibly gripped in his jacket, “I just wanted to say I was sorry, and… and… tch,” he clicked his tongue while shaking his head, “Can we just go beat up some shadows, I need the break…”

“For what it’s worth,” Makoto said while pulling out her phone and pressing the Nav, smirking up at him as the world went red the mask of Queen adorned her face, “I wanted to punt that little jerk for that stunt he pulled too,” she may have sashayed a bit as she walked down the steps into Mementos, conscious of his eyes on her.

A huge grin spread on Skull’s face as he punched his fist into his hand, “Hell yea! Little fucker trying to be some big shot when he can’t do jack without the rest of us,” which he stopped once Queen looked back at him over her shoulder with a tight red eyed glare, “Or ya know, I can shut up cause I already caused enough problems and not mention the little prick…”

“That’s a good boy,” she continued down the steps with a mild smirk, “I might just reward you for that piece of quiet…”

“Yes Ma’am,” he quickly nodded, not caring she couldn’t see, and without a word grabbed his bat and trotted over to her persona-bike once she had it summoned, hopping on back and gripping her tightly, “Ready, my Queen.”

That smirk picked up higher on her lips, “You’re such a jerk.”

He hugged her tighter, “Ya love me for it~”

Queen just shook her head, planning how she was going to have him make this all up to her later tonight.

Ryuji gripped her tightly, gaining her attention as he molded his body to her back and whispered into her ear just as she was revving her persona-bike, “Seriously though Makoto, thanks.”

“Jerk,” she just shook her head and pulled a wheelie with her bike, sending them off into the dark tunnels of Mementos.

\-----

Skull hit the shadow with his bat again, and again, and again.

Queen watched him with her arms crossed as she leaned on her Persona-bike.

He’d been doing that for the past three minutes, the thing was already dissolving, it was already dead.

She didn’t stop him. She knew first hand just how cathartic it was to just hit something again, and again, and again.

He finally stopped when he needed to catch his breath, leaning over on his propped bat and panting hard.

“Done?” was her quick retort.

Through batted breathe he responded, “Why’d… you let me… do it?”

The road warrior just shrugged a spiked shoulder, “You know better than anyone I’m not exactly the best under pressure…”

“Heh… hehehe…” that got him laughing a bit, a small smile below his skull mask, “Yea… yea you like to hit things when you think it’s the end of the world,” he finally stood up straight, lulling his head to look at her, looking both worn out and satisfied, “Gotta do something stupid when everything’s at stake, right?”

Another mild shrug, red eyes boring into the blonde.

He rolled his head to look at the ceiling when she didn’t say anything, just staring for a long time with blank eyes, “It’s exhausting…” he could feel those red eyes on him, begging a question neither really knew how to word, “I mean… this… all of this…” the roof of Mementos was starting to look like a ribcage, like they were in the bowels of something once living the deeper they went. Just the two of them couldn’t go as far as the whole team, but even then they were pretty far down if he could see the bones of this big ass monster, “I try to keep it all in but I can’t, you know that, they know that, everyone does… I can’t help it, just apart of who I am… and this… this bullshit this past week…” that blonde head lulled to look at her again, “I fucked up…”

Queen finally pushed off her bike, Johanna disappearing as contact was lost and the leather clad Phantom Thief took several steps towards the boy, head tilted down until the last moment where she looked at him with crimson eyes directly…

Then hit him in the chest.

Skull flinched back, it hurt but there wasn’t a whole lot of force behind it, he knew how hard she could really punch. This was just a love tap in comparison.

Those crimson serious eyes were still on him as he caught his breath, “I don’t care how annoying a teammate is, don’t pull this kind of bullshit again, understood?”

With a devilish smirk the blonde rubbed his sore chest, “Crystal clear, my Queen…”

A smirked picked at the edges of her lips at her moniker, “Just remember that,” she turned heel, raising one hand to remove her mask, “I put up with a lot for you guys, but you know me in a way the others don’t…” when she ripped off her mask she looked at him seriously with an uncovered face and there was a strange amount of sympathy Skull could see there, “So I understand needing to run out at midnight to hit a bunch of mythological creatures… just don’t be stupid about it, alright?”

“Never,” Skull’s smirk became more genuine, “I might piss you off every other day, but there ain’t no damn way I’d come into a place like this without my back up,” that devilish grin showed fangs, “Without my Queen.”

“As long as you understand,” she mounted up her bike, revving its mysterious engine, “Now get on, we’ve got some ground to cover…”

“Heh, what, no break?” he put the bat on his shoulder as he casually walked up to her, smirking all the while.

“Are you still pissed off?” she responded with narrow eyes.

He snorted, “Tch, fuck yea, still want to kick the little bastard…”

She revved her Persona again, “Then we’ve got more shadows to hunt down and pulverize, so get on.”

Immediately Skull did as commanded, grabbing Queen around the waist and leaning in, both comfortable with the lack of distance between them, “So, we having any fun later?”

“We’ll see,” Queen smirked viciously, taking off, “I want to see how worn out I can get you…”

“Oh yea?” Skull’s grin grew along with his grip, “Sounds like a challenge, My Queen,” he nuzzled in close behind her as they passed a shadow she casually ran over, “I’ll try not to disappoint…”

“You better not,” she spun the bike, pulling another maneuver hitting another shadow, the ones here were still pretty low so most died in only a hit or two.

Skull’s free hand wondered, moving to cup a leather clad mound on Queen’s chest, “I think I have a better way to burn off all this angry energy…”

“Oh you will,” her voice carried despite the wind, something about it sinister, “You’re going to pay for all this week, but first you’re going to burn off all that aggression on the shadows, understood?”

“Yes Ma’am,” he squeezed her breast, both thankful and disappointed he barely got a reaction out of her.

“Now let’s finish up here, I’ve got plans for how you’re going to pay me back for the headache you caused,” Makoto popped a wheelie with Johanna as they managed to hop a station down to the next floor. She was going to make him pay, but first she was going to wear him out fighting shadows until he could barely move… then she was going to _REALLY_ have some fun with him. – _You owe me_ -

“Anything for My Queen,” he kissed the back of her neck. He’d do whatever it took to get back on her good side. He screwed up after all, gotta pay back to the Queen.

It was barely half an hour later and Queen was dragging the boy to their favorite Love Hotel. He was going to pay her back, one way or another.


	8. Rank 7

9/21 – Rank 7

_M: Headed to Mementos_

_M: We can study later if you want?_

Now, normally, the idea of ‘studying’ (their latest code word for sexy-kinky-fun-times) with Makoto would have Ryuji up and running after her ASAP and damning the shadows for wasting his time. Hell, he was even a good guy and was prepared with two condoms in his wallet he snagged from last time a few days ago.

The problem was he was pissed off.

Earlier he had been passing by the dinner looking to catch a break from his jog and caught sight of the two of them. Not just hanging out or anything, no, NO!! He could have dealt with it if Makoto and their Leader, his bro, his buddy, his partner in crime, had just been hanging out…. BUT NO!!

They’d been on a date!

Not just any date, a FUCKING DOUBLE DATE!!

With that Eiko bitch that had been hassling Makoto about her sleazy boyfriend!!

“’Effin’ sonvab-ARGH!!” he kicked his shoes, realizing that just made it harder for him to put them on. It was irritating.

He didn’t know what it was, the moment he saw them all together… no, no, NO!! He couldn’t just rationalize it, like, they were hanging out or something… or maybe they met up while she was hanging with her friend and her sleazy-ass boyfriend! But NO!! He had heard… HE HEARD!! That Eiko chick call his buddy ‘Makoto’s Boyfriend’.

And that pissed him off.

- _How long they been together? How long they been dating!-_

“THE FUCK DIDN’T SHE TELL ME!!” he shouted at the rain, punching a traffic sign and hating himself for hurting his hand. Now he _really_ needed to see Makoto to have her fix it else he’d be screwed cause his mom would be pissed he got himself hurt again. “Damnit…”

The bigger question, aside from the obvious lack of trust from the WOMAN HE WAS SLEEPING WITH!! Was why the hell she didn’t tell him?

Hell he didn’t even know she LIKED their leader!!

Of course it made sense… dude… dude was like the master of suave and debonair and all those stupid sounding foreign words chicks threw out about bishi dudes. So totally not him.

Ryuji frowned, kicking a rock.

“Why didn’t she tell me…”

Then he remembered her text. ‘Study’ was their code word… how could she ask him, hell even tease or offer him herself if she belonged to some other dude.

“Man, it’s my bro too…” Ryuji just sighed, not understanding why she’d do something like this… even more so why it bothered him so much.

He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets, even if it hurt, and trotted through the rain. Not even bothering with his hoodie, it felt good to just get poured on he supposed. He was getting screwed right? This was getting screwed right?!

From his bro, from the woman he was kinda, sorta, maybe with?

“The fuck, man?” he looked up at the sky, “Argh!” cursing himself as a couple raindrops went straight into his eyes and burned for a good couple of seconds, forcing him to stand there, getting even more soaked.

What was he supposed to do? Supposed to think?

If Makoto was really with their leader, then she shouldn’t be hanging out with him… shouldn’t be sending him suggestive texts… shouldn’t… shouldn’t be doing a lot of things… and OH MAN!! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!

He knew what she looked like naked.

If his bro and her ever go hitched he’d have to jab his eyes out or something cause no way was he gonna be THAT GUY that knew what the bride looked like naked. No way. Not him! He was NOT a home wreaker!!

“Fuuuuuuuck,” he half sighed, half whined, to himself, pushing at his eyes and swore it was the rain that made them wet and nothing else.

He had to get to the train station. Had to talk to her at the very least, right? That’s… that’s how this stuff was supposed to work? It was like one of those things shitty adults _said_ they did but never really did? Talk shit out? Find out the truth and all that…

He took a deep breath and calmed his mind. In. out. Breathe. – _Just like running, focus on your breathing man…_ -

He could do this, he could be sane enough for at least the time it took to ask her.

Then…

Then if it was all true, he’d end it.

Square, right there, no strings attached, they say nothing more and bam! Done.

They didn’t sleep with each other, they didn’t hunt shadows together, all of it, boom! Gone.

He’d do that for them.

For them.

Cause it was the right thing to do.

Not that he fucking wanted to!!

Ryuji took off in a sprint, running helped get things out of his head and it got him to Makoto faster…

… and faster meant the sooner he knew and the sooner he could say goodbye.

\-----

Makoto happened to be leaning against the entrance to Mementos (Shibuya Station) waiting for Ryuji and nervously cracking her knuckles every few minutes.

She really wanted to hit something, really, really hard… particularly a certain sleazy creep’s face.

Not even an hour after that fake double date and the creep was already texting her, acting like they were ‘friends’ when it was clear he was trying to get more out of it than that.

Her gut dropped as she heard another _ping!_ Signally another text from that creep. GODDAMN COULD SHE GET A BREAK!!

She cracked her knuckles again out of spite, imagining her fist going through his face and reveling the idea of doing the same to a few shadows.

- _I wonder where Ryuji is?_ \- normally he sent some kind of sultry response to her taunts, maybe a few of his own… maybe a picture that had her blushing as it was more than likely NOT SAFE FOR PUBLIC SPACES! But so far she’d gotten nothing, and he seemed to be running a bit late?

- _Is he not coming?_ \- she checked her phone for the time, and maybe count the minutes from her text to him to now. It was better than cracking her knuckles again, people might start giving her looks for the oddly threatening behavior.

Plus it reminded her she needed to send at least a ‘thank you’ text to their Leader for being a kind and willing participant in her stake out earlier. Poor guy, he must have already had a girlfriend by now and she was dragging him off to play her partner trying to catch some scumbag. If she knew who the woman was she’d send her an apology card or something for borrowing her boyfriend, but sadly their Leader was quite tightlipped about the identity of his paramour.

It made Makoto sigh. – _Must be nice to have a secret romance like that…_ -

Immediately a picture of Ryuji in a distinct lack of clothing on a bed giving her a cocky grin popped into her head.

It was such a sudden mental image Makoto fumbled in place and nearly dropped her phone as a bright blush crept up her face. – _The hell?!_ -

Sure… she… _liked_ … in a physical sense, Ryuji. They were ‘friends with benefits’… really nice sexy benefits… but there was nothing more to it than that! Just a fling! A fun ride for her while the world was ending and by the time this was all over they’d both just move on! Right!

Right?

This happened to be the moment Ryuji showed up, seeing Makoto staring off at nothing with a dreamy look on her face, blushing cutely, and when he looked down holding her phone weird, so the screen was facing out and he could see a garbled message to his bro, their Leader.

It brought a frown to the blonde’s face but before he did anything stupid he brought out his own phone, hitting the Nav and the world around them melted into shades of red.

That was enough to snap Makoto out of her funk, realizing the world had shifted to the Metaverse and she was sporting the look of Queen once again. Just a bit behind her was Skull, looking somewhat pissed off about something, “Skull?”

A yellow glove was held out as the boy was biting his lip, taking in deep breaths through his nose with his eyes closed and clearly trying to get something out. When those dark eyes faced Queen they were on fire, demanding her attention and something else, “I just got one thing to ask, _Queen_ , how long?”

The way he said her moniker, usually something of an enticing tease between them, hurt this time. It was cold, forced, pushing her away and surprised her along with his sudden hostility. “Skull? What do you mean ‘how long’?”

“I SAID ‘HOW LONG’?!” he threw his phone on the ground, pissed off and angry, the screen broke and it went flying off in one direction. Both of them were stunned for a moment from the following silence of the action before it caught up to Ryuji what he just did, “SHIT!!” and out of reflex he crouched down, holding his head and tried to continue being pissed off.

Makoto’s brunette head was tilting just staring at him, confused by what was going on. Her first instinct was to grab his phone, it had landed not far from her and when she swiped the cracked screen she was surprised to find it still worked, mostly, even more so that Ryuji didn’t have any passcode protection on his phone. – _Honestly, some Phantom Thief…_ \- her mind immediately stopped when she realized his background was a picture of her sleeping.

Immediately any visible skin under Queen’s mask was bright red.

It wasn’t like it was a tasteless picture, it was actually somewhat tactful, but it was obvious this one picture had been taken after one of their forays at the Love Hotel and she’d passed out. It was both cute and creepy.

And somewhat terrifying as she realized literally ANYONE could find this picture if they simply grabbed his phone. Burning red eyes glared at the boy and vowed to get him to password protect his damn phone!

That’s when she saw him crouched on the ground, head in his hands and angry at himself, the world, her? She wasn’t quite sure.

- _He looks so small…_ \- like he needed help with something and it just wasn’t coming to him.

Turning off his phone she sighed, not sure if she should approach or not, “Ryuji…” she spoke softly, making sure she had his attention, “What do you mean ‘How long?’ what are you asking me, specifically? You know I’d be happy to tell you…” she had to stop herself from adding ‘anything’ at the end.

“How long ya been going out with our Leader?” he sniffled, raising his head enough to wipe his nose on his arm and kept his gaze at the ground, “Don’t try to deny it or anything, I saw you guys at the diner, having a double-date with that Eiko chick that’s your friend and her sleazy boyfriend…” when he finally looked at her to glare it resulted in more of a childish pout, “When were you gonna tell me? Huh?!”

“Ryuji it’s not what you think,” Queen’s spiked shoulders slumped. Of course this was already biting her in the ass! And here she was worried about their Leader’s mysterious girlfriend… she never really thought about Ryuji finding out about her feint. – _Why’s he so upset?_ -

“I SAID DON’T DENY IT!!” he shot up again, proving just how much taller he was by looking down at her with Skull’s imposing form. But the second she looked into those dark brown eyes she could see a kind of hurt, “I saw you two, heard what that Eiko chick said, ‘Mako-chan’s hot boyfriend’ huh?” he grabbed her upper arms, avoiding the spikes, but she could feel his hands shaking as they tried to hold on, “When were you gonna tell me?! When were we gonna end this!! WHEN?!”

Red eyes blinked, too shocked by his demands and realizing she hurt him. She **_hurt_** him. HER! The prim and proper on the outside Class President that had secret tête-à-têtes with this boy in a very adult way had somehow managed to hurt him by pursuing her own means in a personal matter. – _I’d only asked our Leader because he already knew… I never even thought about if it would hurt anyone on **my** side…_ \- she looked at Ryuji, trying to remain fierce and angry but looking so hurt and sad instead… how had she hurt him so much?

“Ryuji,” she started low, remaining calm despite the situation, “When I said ‘its not what you think’ I mean it,” red eyes rose, showing a fierceness that demanded he pay attention behind Queen’s mask, “He and I are **_NOT_** dating…” swiftly a hand came up and halted Skull’s obvious question, “I mean it, we were there as part of a stake out, think of it as undercover, we were **_pretending_** to be dating since it was the only way Eiko would let me meet this sleazy boyfriend of hers…”

When she finally removed her hand from Skull’s lips he finally let go of her arms, staring at her funny, “So… you guys aren’t dating.”

“No!” Queen glared, “I’m fairly certain he already has a girlfriend but I’ve yet to identify her…” the leather clad biker crossed her arms, looking imposing, “Apparently he’s very secretive about his private affairs outside the Phantom Thieves, though there are only a few reasons I can imagine that could make it worse than being a Phantom Thief, let alone the leader…”

“L-like…?” it was clear Ryuji was only asking to keep the conversation going, probably still trying to process what she’d told him.

“Well, for one, she’s probably older…” Queen indulged his false curiosity, allowing him the time to come to terms with whatever conclusions he had come to thanks to thinking she and their Leader were dating. – _Which is ludicrous!_ \- “Which even then doesn’t seem like enough, so we probably know her and they want to keep things under wraps…” she shrugged, throwing out the last thing she honestly thought, “Worst case, it’s probably a faculty member which would be ridiculous…” red eyes blinked as a few rumors she’d heard floated in her mind about his homeroom teacher, “… and scandalous?” suddenly she wasn’t so sure it was entirely impossible. – _No way?!_ -

Then again who was she to judge, she was 18 and met with an underclassmen at Love-Hotels for non-wholesome things after they spent the evening beating up shadows.

Makoto face palmed. – _This is my life now…_ \- if it wasn’t one horrendously illegal thing it was another.

“S-sorry…” Ryuji spoke softly, looking at the ground, drawing Queen’s attention from her disturbing thoughts, “I thought…” he scratched the back of his head embarrassed, “I saw you guys, heard your friend… I dunno what came over me, I just got so pissed like you lied to me, used me behind my best friend’s back… so, I’m sorry.”

Queen looked at him with her arms crossed, before giving a deep sigh, “I’m sorry too, for not telling you,” she shook her head, “But to be honest, it was a somewhat spur of the moment decision,” she dropped one arm, holding the other and looking at the ground when he looked up at her, “See, when I caught Eiko in the Red Light District before, before we were friends, she assumed he and I were dating, so it just made sense to keep that up…” red eyes looked at the boy, “I’m sorry as well, for not thinking ahead, I just wanted to get to the bottom of this. He’s been helping me out with some other things, nothing like what we do, heh…” that actually made her smile, like a bad joke between them, making light of their nocturnal activities, “But… well, I didn’t think you’d care that much… we’re just… you know… special friends…?” at this point she was looking away, embarrassed and not sure what she was saying.

Ryuji just stared at Makoto, something felt heavy in his gut, like he’d been punched or swallowed a big stone. It hurt, but she was right, right? They weren’t anything more than fuck-buddies. Just… two friends… having fun… right?

“C’mon,” she gave a fake smile, holding up her hands and cracking her knuckles, “Let’s get this over with? I still want to hit something after dealing with that slimy bastard!” that’s really all she needed right now, back up in Mementos as she beat up lesser shadows. That was all.

“Heh, yea…” Ryuji gave just as fake and forced a smile, trying to not think about the things this all brought up in his head. This was just an easy relationship, they fought shadows and had sex afterwards. It was simple, platonic in a way, nothing more…

So why’d it hurt so much when he thought she was with someone else?

Makoto thought similarly as she summoned Johanna and climbed on, wondering why Ryuji was so upset by the idea of her dating someone else, it wasn’t like they were a real thing. – _And besides, he’s always out chasing other women…_ \- it still stung, every time she thought about him looking at other girls, at Ann, those women in Hawaii… maybe there was just something wrong with her and she was missing the obvious.

He climbed on behind her, patting her arm, “C’mon, Queen, let’s get those squishy bastards!!”

At least that was the same, at least that was normal. She could deal with that. “Right.”

They left that night going their separate ways from Mementos, both having too many thoughts weighing on their minds to even notice they’d missed a crucial step in their not-relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My bad for forgetting to update this, life and holidays mess up all schedules~


	9. Night Chat

9/24 – Night Chat

_M: You want to chat?_

_R: Can we talk?_

Red eyes blinked as she stared at her phone, literally getting a ping from Ryuji as soon as she sent her own worried message.

Things had been going… weird, for her with their Leader. Sure, he had been helping her out but it felt unnaturally quick. She hadn’t really hung out with him since July… since before she and Ryuji had had that fight and they started… sleeping together.

It still made her blush thinking about it. How stupid could she have been… not that it was really that bad they were pretty good together and…

She quickly shook her head, sending him a text back. She just wanted to talk tonight, she doubted she could get away from her older sister tonight to really go out with him… to hunt shadows!

_M: that’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about…_

_M: talking I mean!_

She wanted to hit her head on her desk.

The last they’d seen each other, as in just the two of them, not in a group or at school, was three days ago… when he was pissed off for seeing her hanging out on a fake-date with their Leader and she’d had to rebuke him.

They hadn’t had sex that night… and that actually bothered her.

By this point she was biting her thumb, trying to calm down and make sense of the crazy things going on in her head.

Her and Ryuji hadn’t slept together and she was feeling like an addict missing her fix. She’d spent a night with him beating shadows like they used to but something felt off. Everything felt off!!

They had established a pattern and she’d apparently come to expect it! – _Please tell me I’m not a sex-addict now?_ \- she doubted it, it wasn’t like she got _those_ thoughts about anyone other than Ryuji. Well, _now_ … sort of… maybe?

If she was being honest with herself she was starting to feel a tug towards their Leader, probably because they had been hanging out with each other practically every day trying to solve this problem with Eiko’s boyfriend and it was driving her up the wall!! Not to mention that sleazy scumbag leaving her increasingly derogatory texts in emoji-speak that she really didn’t want to bother putting forth the effort to translate.

She needed an escape and the first person she honestly thought of was Ryuji… just, Ryuji.

Not for sex, not for venting her stress by beating up shadows… just… talking with him. That’s all she needed right now.

Her phone rang and it honestly surprised her as she was so lost in her thoughts she nearly forgot what started it all. At first she thought it might be that jackass again trying to call her but it wasn’t her flagged ringtone for him and it wasn’t the one she’d put on for their Leader.

It was just a regular basic ringtone for a number she hadn’t even thought to personalize at this point.

_Ryuji Sakamoto_

Red eyes blinked and she immediately picked it up, panicking she might have taken too long, “H-Hi… H-how are you?”

_“Hey, you said you wanted to talk!”_ he sounded like he was smiling, _“Figured this was quicker…”_

“Y-yea…” she pushed a hand through her hair nervously, “Just hadn’t expected a call so suddenly…”

_“You were expecting a text weren’t you~”_ that cheeky voice, she could see him grinning.

“I honestly didn’t know if your phone could still call…” she said flatly, reminding him that he broke it the last time they’d met up, “By the way have you password protected your phone?”

_“Tch, why? Not like anyone’s gonna look at my phone… er, wait, did you look at my phone?!”_ it seem he finally realized its vulnerabilities that he should have when she handed it back to him three days ago.

A brunette brow twitched on Makoto’s forehead, she could lie… but that would probably result in something similar to last time, and really she saw no point, “It’s not a terrible picture to be honest, but I’d rather it not be so easily accessible…”

There was a deep sigh on the other end, _“Fiiiiiiiine… you got a point… don’t want anyone else checking out the hot girl I got as my background~”_ she could hear the wink, the jerk.

It did not make her blush, she swore it didn’t, “Good, now that that’s settled…” she coughed, clearing her throat, “What did you want to talk about?”

_“Me?_ ” he sounded surprised, _“You’re the one that wanted to talk-talk!”_

“I-!!” abruptly Makoto bit her lip, he was right, damnit, “Fine… I just… it’s just… a lot’s going on, alright and I just… wanted…” her voice trailed as heat flared on her cheeks and she didn’t want to admit she just wanted to talk to him.

_“Just wanted to hear my sexy voice?”_ he was definitely wagging his dirty little eyebrow at her through the phone, _“I know you can’t help but get more of me!”_

The edge of her lips picked up, “Maybe,” Makoto leaned back on her bed, pushing her books she _had_ been studying aside and just tried to relax, “Like I said, just been a lot going on lately… figured I could use the distraction.”

_“And not your usual one?”_ he laughed, maybe he was relaxing too, _“Normally when you’re stressed I get midnight texts to go out at night and beat up monsters in another dimensions… then ya know, kinky fun times with my favorite girl~”_

she had to put her hand over her mouth, both to hide the blush and stop herself from laughing too hard, “You can’t be serious, I know your type…”

_“I dunno,”_ his voice sounded oddly serious if aloof, _“I try to think about those babes in Hawaii… all I come up with is My Queen in her sexy leather outfit!”_

Makoto shook her head, “I don’t know what’s worse, that I’ve apparently made it to the top of your masturbatory list, or that I’m not one hundred percent insulted by that…”

_“Hehe, well what about you?”_ the question was sudden, _“What kind of guys do you think about?”_

Red immediately rushed to her face as she took a second to bite down on her lip as if he could see her, “That’s…” she really had no response. This wasn’t exactly the line of questioning she had expected to get into while wanting to talk with him… but at the same time it was comforting they were back to being open with each other. She decided to huff, “That’s my business and you’re never going to find out.”

_“Ouch!”_ it sounded genuine, but there was something tacit underneath, _“I see how it is, I admit the truth to you and you hold out on me… man you can be cold sometimes, class Prez.”_

Makoto frowned, she meant to tease not piss him off, “That’s…” she sighed, “Sorry… bad joke.”

He was quiet on the other end for a second, then gave a short laugh, _“Still not gonna tell me huh?”_ the jerk was smiling, she could hear it.

The brunette shook her head, how could she fall for something so obvious, “Jerk,” a hand rose to rub between her brows, “You’re just going to keep asking until I tell you something?”

_“Nah… well, I mean, it’d be nice for you to feed my ego and tell me you think of me while touching yourself…”_ Ryuji may or may not have winked at the air, half smirking at his own crassness, _“Like maybe now?”_

Red eyes rolled, “You’re so vulgar,” though… that was a thought.

_“Heh, you love me for it…”_

There was a deep sigh as Makoto sunk further into her pillow, unable to get rid of the small smile he brought about, “Jerk.”

_“Hehe, you said that already…”_ there was a shift as he moved about, _“So hey, how’s that thing you’re doing with our Leader? That jerk still bugging you?”_ there was a pause as he swallowed a growl, his voice coming out a bit lower neck, _“Do I gotta show a sleazy asswipe the friendly side of my bat?”_

Makoto shook her head, “My hero,” rolling her eyes as he laughed on the other side, “I’ll handle it when the time comes,” she released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, glad he brought the topic up… the other was getting a little… distracting, “But… to be honest that was why I wanted to talk… just to…”

_“Hear my sexy voice~”_ his voice sounded a bit more sincere this time.

“Jerk,” Makoto shook her head despite the small smile on her lips, “You said that already and… well, I guess, just to have something different.” A pale hand went through her hair, “Its either that sleaze ball or our Leader… I mean he’s a good guy and all… but really, I just want a break from all this to think… or not…” she sunk lower into her pillow, “Just different.”

_“Well I try, but you didn’t want to have a sexy talk,”_ it sounded like he was winking at his phone, definitely, _“Might be too_ busy _, eh? Need a good distraction, hehe…”_

“Pervert,” her smile grew, “Thanks, for the distraction…” she checked her phone for the time, ignoring the texts that had piled up, “I think it’s about time to go to bed…”

_“I’m already in, but hey, if you wanna tuck me in…”_ the innuendo was obvious and she could practically see his eyebrows wiggling.

“Such a pervert,” she had to bring a hand up to cover up her slight laugh, he just kept trying, “Thanks, Ryuji, for the distraction…”

_“Anytime, you know that right?”_

“I do now,” she smiled at his sincerity, “Night.”

_“Goodnight my Queen,”_ it sounded like he kissed the receiver, making her blush, _“Hope you have sexy dreams of me!”_

“You wish,” she hung up before he could respond, smirking the whole time. Maybe she would have sweet dreams of the boy, it’d actually help.

Red eyes just stared at her phone, feeling calmer then she had earlier.

“Goodnight you sweet jerk…” then turned off her light and slipped under her sheets.

\-----

_“You wish,”_ and the connection died.

Ryuji stared at his phone, sighing to himself, “Yea, I do… my Queen.” He put his phone down for a second and turned off his light, staring into the darkness at his ceiling.

This lasted for all of a second before he grabbed his phone, putting in his new password and opening up his home screen.

There was that sexy brunette beauty… the one he’d been missing all week.

He swiped his screens to one that showed the most of her and just stared for a good long moment.

She’d been hanging with his best friend and their Leader all week, all stressed by that slimy dick texting he was sure, and they hadn’t had time to hang out or fix what happened before.

He missed her. Missed her bad.

Maybe he was addicted to her body, but it had to be more than that. He hadn’t been lying when he said he kept thinking about her when he was turned on, but it wasn’t just that. He just kept thinking about her period. Her looks, her smile, her beautiful red eyes, even this dumb picture of her sleeping he found himself staring at more often than not.

He knew what it was, he missed her, and he’d never missed anyone like this before.

So he wanted to talk to her, call her up, say ‘hi’, joke a bit… just to have a second of her time.

He joked about her loving his vulgar nature, but maybe he was the one that had fallen for her.

His sexy Queen, the road warrior of the Phantom Thieves, their master tactician and the only level headed person between them… until she got so stressed out she needed to hit something, and even then she was cute to him.

He must have gone insane somewhere along the way, but right now he was okay with that.

He’d been terrified of losing her when he thought she was dating his friend, and this whole week had him a sulking wreak. All cause he missed her.

That sounded like all those sappy doujin love stories to him.

“Man, I’m such a punk…” he laughed at himself flatly, hitting the button to turn off his phone.

Maybe he’d talk to her again tomorrow.

He hoped so.


	10. Rank 8

9/27 – Rank 8

Makoto stared at her phone, debating about what to do.

It’d been two days since their last chat, and nearly a week since their last ‘ride’, longer than that since they’d gone out together in less than reputable terms.

But that’s not what she was feeling like doing today, didn’t want to go hit shadows, didn’t want to have useless physical sex with Ryuji, didn’t even just want to talk…

She wanted to spend time with him, spend time with _someone_ right now that so far hadn’t ignored or rejected her, no matter what she’d done to him.

So she stared at her phone, wondering about the best way to call him.

\-----                                                                                               

_M: Hey_

_M: at Mementos_

_M: Meet me?_

_…_

_M: Just want to talk_

Ryuji stared at his phone.

It had been two days since he called her and already he missed her voice. Been nearly a week since they’d gone into Mementos together but that left such a bad taste in their mouths they didn’t even stick around for round two. And that, it’d been longer…

He missed her, so grabbed his coat and headed out, not even checking if his mom was awake or not.

He’d had a lot on his mind since the last time they spoke face to face. The late night chat was fun but he still felt like he was missing something from it.

He wanted to be close to her, not just physically, not even naked or having sex, just… to be near her, just the two of them.

He’d been debating with himself over what it meant. According to Doujin it meant one thing, he’d fallen for her, and he wanted more than just physical sex. But that didn’t make sense, he was Ryuji Sakamoto, the school fuck up, how was he supposed to get a girl like Makoto, the Class President and over all on a far better track in life then him. Hell, she probably knew what she was going to be since she was a little kid while he still had no idea…

That was another thing, all of a sudden he wanted to know more about her. Sure, he was probably the only guy alive that knew every inch of her beautifully naked body, and while that was personal, he was realizing that wasn’t _that_ personal. There was still something missing, some connection he was trying to scratch at but couldn’t quite grasp.

Then there was her, did Makoto even want a real relationship like that? What they had was a simple casual fuck-buddy kind of deal… did she want more? Doujin and Hentai told him girls always wanted more, but in this situation it seemed like she was the one not caring, just using him and sex as a way to cope with life.

It wasn’t bad, per say, but… there was just something missing.

When Ryuji got to the station he noticed their normal spot was empty, checking his phone again she had said she was here and he didn’t doubt her, so he found the nav and activated it. The world shifted to that blood red and thick air, and he looked around again.

There she was, only this time standing in front of her was a bigass transformer looking thing with a red mask with horns while the rest of it… looked vaguely like Johanna… but different.

“Oi, Queen?” he called out as he walked up to her, not wanting to scare her since she seemed kind of out of it, and both her and the red masked transformer turned to him, something about its glowing eyes giving him chills.

There was a small smirk on Makoto’s face before she waved her hand, the transformer bowed then morphed into a bike just like Johanna, but different, with that prominent red horned mask in front, did a little circle and disappeared.

“So, I see you made it…” her voice was low, like something was wrong.

Immediately Ryuji was on guard, walking up to her carefully, “Y-yea, got your message,” his blonde head turned to stare at the spot apparently her persona had been, “So, you got a new one, huh?”

“Yea, Anet,” Queen gave a light mirthless laugh, shaking her head, “She’s… wildly, more blunt then Johanna was, a lot more aggressive, but there’s something… comforting about her…”

Skull grinned, “Yea, felt kinda similar when I got Saiten Tensei, he was a lot cooler then Cap’n Kidd, a lot more confident, but like he could really back it up… with the Cap’n I always felt like something was off, like his power was a big bluff, ya know?”

Queen crossed her arms, staring at the other leather clad Phantom Thief, “So this kind of thing happened with you? The others?” when he nodded she sighed, “Suppose I shouldn’t be surprised…”

A yellow glove pushed through short blonde hair and Ryuji looked her over, she looked… kinda pissed off, but not in her normal all-out-attack fiery kind of way, “Hey, you okay?” he reached out and held her arm, “I know when I was talking with our Leader things got a bit tough, had this jerk teacher messing with my old friends from the track team… and well,” he ran his free hand through his hair again while looking at the ground, “I kinda… had the chance to go back, be a star again, but dunno, just felt wrong at this point, ya know?” he dropped both arms and looked to the sky, “Guess it was a lot to learn about myself, why I got a new guy…”

Makoto stared at the boy with sympathy, before looking down at the ground thinking, “I suppose you could say the same happened with me,” there was a sigh, “I was trying to figure out what it was like to be a real teenager, heh,” she gave a mirthless laugh, “Here, I’m already 18, an adult by societal standards, and I never really got to try being a teenager,” she shook her head, another sigh, “It was always work, work, work, study this, study that, do everything I was told… then you guys came along and everything just sort of… blew up,” red eyes darted to the boy, noticing him staring and being attentive, it caused a small smile to pick at the edge of her lips, “I realized how little I knew about being a kid, let alone an adult, and more so a teen, so… even before we got together, I asked our Leader to help me out, to ‘teach’ me how to be a normal teen…” she gave a small chuckle which Ryuji returned, “It was, kind of stupid, to be honest…”

“Hey, don’t matter,” he rolled his head, rubbing the back of his neck, “I probably would have been a worse choice,” he gave a depreciating laugh.

Makoto glared at that, it was wrong for the boy to be putting himself down so much, “Don’t say that…”

When Ryuji turned his head back to her he gave a genuine smile, “Hey, I’m the comedy relief guy, I’m here to screw up and be made fun of, s’all cool…”

Brunette brows furrowed as Makoto held herself tighter, “You’re more than that…”

His smile grew, showing teeth but not in that feral way Skull’s smiles usually were, “Hey, s’cool,” he waved his hand, “C’mon, tell me the rest, might help?”

A brunette brow quirked as she stared at him a moment, “See,” his smile made her smile as well, he was right, she needed to tell someone, “So we did a few things, went to the arcade…”

“Hahaha!” he smiled wide, laughing, “I would have loved to see that, Class Prez playing at an arcade…”

Red eyes rolled but her smile didn’t diminish, “It was pretty funny,” she released one hand to wave it, “But after that, I had this thing for Student Council, or well a personal project to try and help some students falling victim to crimes like Kaneshiro…”

The laughing stopped and the smile dropped, the blonde boy could be surprisingly serious when the time called, “I take it that’s how you ran into that Eiko chick?”

Makoto just nodded, “We became friends after that, she taught me a lot about being a teenager too, but well…” she gave a deep sigh, “As you know about a week ago I managed to further my investigation into her so called boyfriend,” back were her arms crossed and she looked to be shaking, Ryuji put his hand on her shoulder and it helped her calm somewhat, “It took all this week just to gather enough evidence and still she didn’t want to believe me, clung to this slimy jerk and I just…” she bit down hard, holding her arms tight.

“Hey, its okay, I’m sure it turned out alright, no need to worry…” Ryuji was surprisingly close, his voice soft and calming.

But it wasn’t enough, red eyes opened and he realized she wasn’t shaking from being sad or upset, she was angry, “That sonvabitch was stringing her along, using her, and she wouldn’t listen to me, it was so… frustrating!” her hands became fists and she looked away from him, “I ended up tricking both her and that jerk, even slapped her when she didn’t listen to what was right in front of her…”

“Hey, c’mon, you know you can’t force people to listen,” he squeezed her shoulders, concerned for her. He’d seen her angry, but this felt different.

Since he was now in front of her, arms holding her shoulders on both sides, Makoto looked up at his face for a moment before taking a step forward and lowering her head to his chest, needing the close comfort for a moment, “It was so stupid… but I think I understand now…”

Ryuji stared, his hands moving from her shoulders to hold her, if this was what she needed he wouldn’t hesitate.

“Our Leader, he’s such a jerk,” she laughed into his chest, almost sounding like she was holding back tears, “I think… after spending so much time with him, I may have fallen for him a bit…”

Yellow gloves gripped her tighter, not to the point he was crushing her but trying to reign his own emotions in. – _Am I too late?_ -

Makoto probably felt his feelings somehow, as she leaned further into him, undoing her arms to wrap around his waist, “it doesn’t matter, he’s a good guy, but when I asked him about teaching me romance,” she leaned back enough to look into Ryuji’s face, into his eyes, “he told me ‘You’ll find someone to teach you one day’… I think I was shot down and I didn’t even know I was asking to be honest…” she looked at him with a kind of reckless, hurt smile that was somehow genuinely happy.

It was so cute Ryuji couldn’t help but laugh, “How ‘bout I teach you a thing or two, one day, eh, Queen?”

“I think I’d like that, Skull,” she leaned up and kissed him, light on the lips and only a moment, but it was precious for both of them.

A gloved hand left the leather clad road warrior as Ryuji scratched his head, giving a nervous laugh, “Can’t say I’m really the guy to ask, I only really know what’s in manga and stuff…”

“Really?” she gave him a wry look, “I have to say that’s about as much as I know too…”

They both laughed at their own ignorance, and the irony of their relationship.

But Ryuji kept smiling, “Hey, you wanna hit up the bookstore in Shibuya, I know they don’t have much but, dunno, maybe they got something you wanna catch up on? New Jump should be out soon!”

Queen raised a brow, not that he could see it, but smiled at his offer, “I don’t think they’d be open this late…”

“Tomorrow?” Skull rubbed her back, coaxing her with a silly smile, “I’ll buy?”

Red eyes narrowed on the boy, “Is this a date?”

Suddenly he swallowed hard, almost tripping on himself, “Do you want it to be?”

Makoto stared at him. Right now, she honestly didn’t know. She wanted to hang out with Ryuji, their Leader’s rejection making her feel vulnerable in a way she didn’t understand, and his acceptance was warm… inviting… it meant more to her and was different from their usual routine.

It was different, and that sounded nice right now, “I don’t think I’d mind… but let’s wait to see how it goes, then we can label it officially…” she pecked his cheek and slipped out of his arms, moving towards the entrance of Mementos.

“Sooo…” Skull smirked, walking up behind her excited, “Let’s say it’s not a date,” he walked backwards down the stairs with her, smiling the whole time, “Does that mean I get another try?”

Queen just smirked back, “Maybe…”

That was basically a yes from her so Skull did a little whoop and jump, “Hell yea!” he ran up behind her as she was grabbing her mask, pulling her up with a yelp and spinning around, “Hahahahaha!! This’ll be great!!”

“Ryuji!! What the hell?!” Makoto held on tight, trying not to get dizzy, until he finally set her down, then deeply sighed, “It’s just going to a book store, not like we’re having sex afterwards!”

“What?!” he mocked shouted, “Why not?” totally flabbergasted…

Red eyes glared at him, “You don’t have sex on the first date!”

That had the blonde laughing, hard enough to bend over, “Whatever… you say… my Queen!”

She glared at him wryly for a moment, before smirking herself and succumbing to a few laughs, the whole situation a bit ridiculous, “Come on… lets hunt a few shadows while we’re here…”

Ryuji quickly went to grab his bat, jumping on the new persona-bike and held onto her tight. Maybe he hadn’t totally lost her to his bro just yet, and maybe their relationship wasn’t conventional and sure as hell didn’t start the right way around, but maybe if he did well they could work out…

Besides, there were a few ecchi manga he totally wanted to see her reaction to.

\-----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh, i keep forgetting to update this, i'm so sorry T3T
> 
> i've been busy with a self-imposed challenge, 100 days, i got to write a small narrative every day and i'm 'trying' to keep it mostly original ideas, but well, some times fanfic loves to sneak up on me still (that's how Tempered Fragments snuck up on me -3-) 
> 
> but that's been my main priority, i still have a few more chaps of this on hand! hopefully with holidays over, i can be more focused!
> 
> thanks for the comments! i love hearing what you guys think :3


	11. Interlude - Team Meet Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, what does the Team think of all this?

10/6 – Team Meet up

It was… quiet.

That was one way of putting it. The Leader of the Phantom Thieves was driving the Morgana-bus and occasionally he’d look in the rearview mirror to see how his team was doing.

Yusuke, Ryuji and Haru were sitting in the seat behind him, with Ann and Futaba in the furthest back seat. It was actually rather convenient Morgana could alter his bus-form at will to accommodate the growing team of thieves.

To his right was Makoto, who seemed to just be leaning on the door half asleep. The others were either antsy or bored, vocalizing this much to his chagrin at times, but at least his second in command was using her time wisely. Maybe.

Ryuji was twitching behind him. The blonde had been antsy since they came to Mementos. It had been a day since they reached Okumura’s heart and while he _wanted_ to give his team some down time, he was being hounded by Mishima to finish up some Phansite business asap and with the deadline soon for Okumura he figured now was as good a time as any to get it done. The shadows in Mementos weren’t as irritating as the blobs, robots, and those godforsaken black elephant jerks that reflected physical attacks in Okumura’s palace. His red gloves tightened around the steering wheel enjoying the thought of erasing the place from the metaverse probably more than he should.

The Joker masked young man glanced up at the rearview mirror again, Yusuke and Haru were both inching away from Ryuji as he seemed about to explode. He sighed heavily.

“Joker?” a voice called lightly from his right. It seemed Makoto sensed his own rising agitation, or the group’s, and decided to wake up and play back up for him. How he hoped.

The quiet young man nodded his head back and noticed as her red eyes glanced to the scene behind them. If he didn’t know any better he would have thought a little color rose on the woman’s face as she suddenly woke up more, but that was a silly thought.

She turned back to him, stern masked as ever, “Want me to handle it?”

A red glove waved, “Would you please?” she nodded and he stopped the bus.

“Ow-ow-ow Joker!! Be nicer on my breaks!!” the cat-bus moaned but no one seemed to really pay him any mind.

“Hey,” Ryuji sat up straight, arms still crossed as he made himself look as thuggish as possible, “Why’re we stopping? The dude ain’t even on this floor right?”

He was right, and Joker almost rolled his eyes.

“We’re scouting ahead,” thankfully Makoto spoke before their leader, red eyes on the blonde and putting on the face of justice.

Ryuji backed off a bit, “Wait-what?!”

The team road warrior just stepped out of the bus, going to the other side where the door was and grabbing her mask, summoning her persona, “Skull get out here!!”

“Y-yes m-my-Hey wait!!” he had to stop himself before saying his favorite line. Haru had already opened the door and he was halfway out before he realized it, but the second that happened he halted and glared at her, like he was supposed to right? “Why’re we doin’ this? Huh? The ‘eff Queen?!”

Those no nonsense red eyes just glared at him, “Get on, now, we’ll discuss this later…”

If Skull didn’t know any better there was a little twinkle in her eyes and the barest of smirks on her lips. He gave a sharky smirk in response, “Fine, fine, if it gets me away from this damn cat-”

“Hey!” Mona yelled indignantly, bumping his side rail as the boy tried to get out.

“Hey watch it you sonva-!!” Skull barely managed to catch himself, glaring at the cat with clinched teeth.

Queen simply grabbed his hand and pulled him on to her bike, “Honestly, picking fights again,” red eyes glared behind her, “I thought we discussed this?” it was supposed to be a threat, it really was.

Instead Skull just grinned an idiot’s grin, sitting on the back of Anet backwards and waving back at the team as they sped off down the dark tunnels of Mementos.

Ann took the opportunity to jump over the back rest as Futaba sunk lower to take over the back seat.

“Joker?” the blonde model hunched over the front back rest, staring at her friend wryly, “You sure that was a good idea?”

“Hm?” he seemed to space out a moment, hitting the clutch and pulling the cat-bus into gear.

“Sending those two off?” Ann pointed with her thumb the way those two went. It was no secret Skull and Queen were basically on opposite ends of the personality spectrum, he a delinquent, her the upstanding class president, even though they worked together on the team there were still moments they got at each other like cats and dogs, “Don’t you think they’ll get in trouble, or something, by themselves?”

Joker just shrugged, driving along and enjoying the less tense atmosphere, “I’m sure they’re fine.”

\-----

Ann still wasn’t convinced. They got down to the next floor and the bike riding duo were nowhere to be seen.

“They’re fine, Makoto can heal them if need be…” their leader piped in, nonchalant as ever.

It didn’t make the blonde model feel any better as she sat in the second seat with a huff between Haru and Yusuke. They were her friends, Ryuji since middle school so she knew how reckless that boy could be, and since Makoto joined them she liked to think the older girl who was, normally, fairly calm and level headed was a good role model and someone to look up to. Also it was kind of adorable when she got confused about normal everyday things, but Ann wasn’t going to say that out loud.

“They’re on this floor and still alive if that’s what you need to hear,” Futaba piped in from the back seat.

Ann turned around, sprawling over the backrest and looked at the alien motifed girl as she lay out on the back seat. Weird green see-through screens hovered in front of her despite her position and Futaba was plowing away at a similarly hologram looking keyboard. It was how the nerdy girl’s persona worked and none of them were really going to question it. Even from the backside all the letters and streams of data looked like utter gibberish to Ann.

“They’re not in trouble or anything?” light blue eyes narrowed on the orange haired girl as Ann pouted.

A really, really, _really_ weird grin spread underneath those bug-eyed goggles, “Oh… yea… they’re… fine… ufufufu…”

That did not sound pleasant at all. Ann whipped around and leaned over the back rest, putting her hand on their leader’s shoulder, “That’s it, let me off, I’m gonna go check on them!”

“Panther, I’m sure they’re fi-!!” was as far as Joker got before he got smacked by her tail as the blonde wasn’t taking no for an answer. He pouted and hit the brakes.

“Futaba!?” Ann shouted, leaning over Yusuke to open the door.

“About two tunnels down, all the way in the back, all the shadows are gone in the area,” the alien girl just directed from the back seat, not even bothering to get up.

“Lady Ann!!” Morgana whined as the red leader clad girl hopped out of the bus.

The blonde cat masked girl turned back with a wink, “I’ll be back in a second, just want to make sure they’re okay!” and off she went.

Joker just sighed deeply and collapsed over the steering wheel, “Yusuke…”

“On it!” it did not take much to get the katana wielding fox masked boy into motion, just the thought of Ann in danger and he was generally fired up despite his icy affinity. He jumped out of the cat-bus and caught up to the blonde soon enough before they disappeared into the dark tunnels of Mementos.

“Thank you…” Joker hit his head on the steering wheel, wishing he wasn’t wearing a mask as that made it hurt more.

“They’ll be fine, Panther can heal…” was the voice of reason from the back, clearly too distracted to give any better advice.

“Oh I hope so,” Haru put her hand in front of her mouth, looking worried, “Mako-chan can get pretty mad when she’s bothered…”

A completely indecent snicker came from the back seat, “You mean interrupted.” The two started snickering.

Joker just hit his head on the steering wheel again, ignoring as the girls’ laughter sounded sinister.

“Wait, I don’t get it?” the cat-bus asked in the air around them, “Why would Queen get mad? What if she and that idiot need the back up!”

For some reason that caused the girls to laugh louder, enjoying their inside joke.

“Joker?!” the cat whined.

The masked man just shook his head, not raising it from the steering wheel, “Don’t ask Mona, just don’t ask.”

\-----

Ann and Yusuke made it down the empty tunnels fairly easy, it took longer since they were on foot and the darkness of Mementos made it hard to see more than a couple feet in any direction. But made it they did, two tunnels down and they were heading towards the back like Futaba said.

So far the only sound either heard was the eerie low moan that permeated Mementos.

That is until they got further down the tunnel. A low groaning sound added to the mix, and was growing steadily louder as they moved further down. They finally got to the point they could make out the back wall of the tunnel, with the creepy tombstones and eerie candles… along with the weird fleshy stuff coating the walls and bones growing out of everything.

“Mmm… Ryuji…”

That _sounded_ like Makoto’s voice. Ann looked back at Yusuke with a confused look, trying to make sure she wasn’t the only one that heard that. The fox masked boy just looked her in the eye and shrugged.

There was another sound, like something hit one of the slimy walls, a loud grunt, a _giggle_ , and another groan.

More freaked out than ever, Ann and Yusuke crept to the edge of the tunnel and both slowly leaned over.

To say they were shocked by what they saw was an understatement, as Ann covered her mouth, and pushed Yusuke back with her hand over his mouth too. For a long second the two just stared at each other, Ann’s eyes mortified and nearly twitching while Yusuke was blinking very confused.

What they’d seen was Ryuji’s back… with Makoto’s legs wrapped around his waist, one hand on his shoulder, and it seemed the two of them were using one of the headstones as something to prop Makoto on as… well… honestly it looked like the two were just grinding on each other.

Ann seemed to be trying to express all her words in eye motions and Yusuke was just still.

Then they heard a growl.

“Uhh… harder, Ryuji… I know… you can do better… uhnnn… better than that…”

“Fuck… fuck this damn place and not letting me take that sexy thing off you!”

There was a tittering, and if either dared to say it, _sexy_ giggle that was clearly Makoto before it was suddenly cut off.

The two animal themed phantom thieves chanced a glance back around the corner and could _clearly_ see Makoto’s hands around Ryuji’s head as they looked to be roughly devouring each other.

Both fox and cat plastered themselves against the wall and tried to ignore either had a blush.

Ann made a motion like cutting across her neck with her hand then pointed behind Yusuke. It was time they made an escape, before they got caught. The artist could only agree, turning tail and they both skedaddled down the tunnels back to the cat-bus.

\-----

It was quiet at the Mona-mo-bile.

Until the side door was flung open and Ann and Yusuke jumped into their seats, shutting the door quickly, earning a yelp from Morgana, and sat stock still staring ahead with shocked looks on their faces.

No one said a word for the longest second.

“So you get a good look at our delinquent couple?” came from the back seat.

Ann whipped around and furiously glared at the little NEET, “You KNEW about this?!” once her frustration was vented she blinked and tilted her head, “HOW?!”

Haru giggled next to her underclassmen.

The red clad thief abruptly turned on the tittering girl, “You too?!”

That got a larger laugh and giggle from Futaba and Haru.

Joker just sighed.

Ann finally sat down, staring at the back of her leader’s head, “Don’t tell me you knew too?”

Joker glanced up at the rearview mirror and tried to look sympathetic to his friend, “I suspected… not that I really cared enough to look into it,” he waved his hand, turning the ignition on, “It wasn’t my business.”

There was a titter next to Ann, “I knew since Hawaii…”

“WHAT?!” it was mostly Ann yelling, but Yusuke was leaning over and looking at the pink clad thief as well.

Even Futaba piped in, “No way… they were doing it in Hawaii?” the orange haired shut in pushed up enough to give the impression she was glancing at the older curly haired girl, but didn’t quite make the full effort to get up from the back seat, “Man… why didn’t I have anything to record them there!”

“What?!” blue eyes twitched as Ann glanced from the alien themed girl, “Wait, no!” she turned back to Haru, pointing at her, “ _How_ did you know?! You weren’t even on our team then?”

Haru’s light eyes flickered to the blonde momentarily, completely innocent, before she giggled, hiding it behind her hand, “I went to see Mako-chan while we were there, she was staying in her room mostly, but when she answered the door she had two buttons undone…” there was a devious smirk hidden behind Haru’s finger on her lips as she kept her sly eyes on Ann, waiting for her to piece it together.

It took a long second but slowly the blonde girl’s eyes started to widen…

“Holy FUCK!!” the moment was ruined as Futaba burst into laughter, her hand loudly smacking the top of her alien mask, “They WERE doing it then!!”

“Wait, I don’t understand,” Yusuke leaned around Ann to stare at Haru, not quite getting her insinuation, “How would you know she was with someone just because of her shirt being unbuttoned?”

The devious little smirk on the Okumura Foods heiress’ lips grew, “Because Mako-chan _ALWAYS_ wears her collared shirts buttoned all the way to the top,” she gave a little wink, “I didn’t know _who_ she was with at the time, but it was pretty obvious she had _someone_ in her room she wasn’t supposed to…”

Expectedly this got a snicker from the back seat, but oddly enough the front as well.

Ann glared at the back of Joker’s head a moment before turning her attention to the little hacker in the back seat, “And what about you?” she folded her arms over the backrest, “How did you find out, _Oracle_?”

Those bug-eyed goggles just popped up and the younger girl had a similar smirk like Haru but nowhere near as discreet, “I don’t know when they _first_ did it, but by the time I was on the team and we’d gone to Mementos, I had my system hooked up to all of you and a couple sensors to monitor this place, to make sure I knew when and where you guys went in the Metaverse, especially here, just in case.”

Ann had a very confused look on her face.

Futaba just ignored it, turning her attention back to her screens, “Long story short, those two never turned off their coms…” and that vicious sharktoothed grin was back, “And I could hear _everything_ they did while they were in here… ufufufufu….”

“Creepy,” Ann sat back down properly with a little shiver before turning to look at the boy next to her. He’d been quiet this whole time, her blue eyes narrowed on him, “What about you, Yusuke?”

The artist managed to open his mouth and raise his hand to make a point…

“Pfft, Inari doesn’t notice anything if it doesn’t fall under his interests,” was thrown out from the backseat, “Namely art and you, catwoman.” Her hand came up above the backrest and pointed at the blonde, making her blush.

Yusuke seemed to be oblivious to Ann’s reaction, as he shot up to yell at the little NEET behind the back rest, meaning the two got into another vicious verbal war.

Joker just sighed deeply, putting Morgana in gear and heading further down, trying to ignore his team, “Queen, if you can hear this, we’re heading down, meet up with us when you can…”

There was a muffle grunt on his com, _“R-roger, Joker… mhnn… we-we’ll be there… s-soon… just need some more… mmnnn…. Time to… blow off some steam…”_

Joker absently nodded, driving Mona down to the next level. He didn’t care, didn’t want to know, and wasn’t going to ask. What his friends did on their time was their business, so long as they didn’t get killed, good on them.

“JOKER!! INARI’S BEING MEAN AGAIN!!”

“I AM NOT!!”

The black clad young man just groaned, now he just had to deal with the rest of his team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as far as i'm concerned, this doesn't count for any Confidante Points, but is just a silly fun 'look from the otherside' bit about how the other Phantom Thieves are interpreting what's going on with two of their members~
> 
> in the words of MC!Shipper, 'I don't know, i don't wanna know, and i don't care...'
> 
> hope you guys enjoyed ;P


	12. Dinner and a Show?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Okumura's fallout they're supposed to be acting like normal high school students... 'supposed to' being the operative words here...

10/15 – Dinner and a Show?

It was the Saturday before exams. That meant half the day was stuck in school and the other half was free time.

Normally for Makoto this meant she’d be stuck in the library cramming as much as she physically could, ignoring the others cramming beside her or literally hitting their heads with books trying to make the knowledge sink into their brains. Normally this was all just a formality for her and really just review, she already knew everything she needed to pass the exams with top marks and it was just a last minute chance to use the school’s facilities to ensure she did her best. No, not _her_ best, scored THE best, as was expected of her.

A half hour after the last bell and she could not care any less about these books or her notes.

Normally she’d be in the zone, absorbed into her studies to the point she was barely polite to anyone that tried to talk to her, just going from one topic to the next.

Now… now she couldn’t even make sense of the black ink on white paper.

It wasn’t that she didn’t know her subjects, she just didn’t care.

For once, and probably before one of the most crucial tests she was ever going to take, she just could not give a… what was the phrase, Ryuji would probably use it to describe his sentiments towards exams right now… ah yes, she did not give a ‘flying fuck’ about her studies right now.

Speaking of the blonde…

She told herself the only reason she was sitting in one of the few chairs in the library that was next to the windows was because she wanted a change of scenery. Also maybe to apply some of that cop training her father used to tell her. Having her back to the library door while she studied was just a poor habit she needed to get rid of, if she ever became a cop she needed to get used to assessing a layout and sitting in the spot with the clearest vantage and easiest escape. It was just practical!

Who the hell was she kidding, this was the only spot in the library that had a decent view of the courtyard below and maybe… juuuuuust maybe, she had caught a glimpse of the blonde delinquent running laps in his supposedly ‘secret spot’.

His form was getting better, which was good, it wasn’t like what he was able to do what he could last year but still… it was good.

More than once she found herself wistfully staring out the window… watching as he made a circuit.

She really didn’t care about her studies right now, and it’s not like she _needed_ it with everything that was going on. Government upheaval, social unrest, the Phantom Thieves being hunted by the police and populace alike after being accused of a murder they did not commit. Who needed to study right now?!

Her red eyes caught a glimpse of the blonde runner, walking back to his stuff and he seemed to be favoring his once-injured leg.

She picked up her phone without even thinking.

\-----

_M:_ _You really need to stop pushing yourself_

_M:_ _One of these days you’re just going to reinjure yourself_

Ryuji just stared at his phone, dark brown eyes wide as he nearly dropped his towel. He’d been running laps to get his mind off of everything; the murder, the accusations, the tailspin the Phantom Thieves’’ popularity was in, and worst of all: exams next week.

 He’d only been a few feet away from his stuff on the grass when he heard his phone go off and tried to trot quickly in the least painful way possible.

It didn’t help that his leg was hurting again, but this just downright freaked him out.

_R:_ _Are you spying on me?_

_R:_ _;P_

A small smirk picked at the edge of his lips as he sat on the grass, waiting for her reply.

_M: Maybe…_

_M: look up_

Raising a blonde brow the punk did just that, looked straight up to the sky.

_M: not that far!_

A large smile spread on his face as he looked back down at his phone.

_R: you said to look up~_

_R: ( ~3*)_

_M: I did not realize you’d take it so literally_

He could imagine that serious look on her face, sighing at his antics.

_M: I’m in the Library studying, like you should be, and saw you limping_

_M: don’t hurt yourself_

_…_

_M: that’s my job…_

Once again Ryuji was left flabbergasted as he stared at his phone. Then laughed openly.

_R: was that Mako-chan tryng to flirt?_

_R: hehehe_

The response took a while, she must have been embarrassed. Ryuji spent the interim silence looking around at the windows of the school building, trying to find his Queen.

_M: Jerk._

He smirked at what she finally decided on.

_M: I’m done studying for now, and you look to be done running_

_…_

_M: want to get something to eat?_

_M: there’s this ramen place Joker took me to once that was nice_

_M: if you’re hungry…_

Ryuji immediately jumped to his feet!

_R: Ogikubo’s!!_

_R: HELL YEA!!_

_R: I was actually the one to show him that place!_

_…_

_R: Wait, why’d he take you there?_

The blonde delinquent’s enthusiasm was momentarily quelled by the idea his bro had taken _his_ girl to **_his_** place before him. It sent an illogical burning fire into his brain momentarily as he glared at his phone, partly confused, as he eagerly awaited the little dots signaling Makoto was typing would change into actual words. Hopefully good ones, that would make this make sense and not send him on a spiral like before when he’d caught them ‘not-dating’.

_M: This was before the whole thing with Eiko, he was just showing me around._

_M: it’s actually kind of funny now that I think about it, I’ve lived in this city my whole life and I never really wondered around finding places like this, and had to be shown them by a guy who’d only lived here a few months._

It helped, somewhat, to alleviate Ryuji’s sudden anxiety. Maybe he was jealous? That’s what it was before right?

_R: oh, yea, sounds like him…_

_R: Glad you liked the place…_

There was a longer pause between their responses this time. It made him oddly nervous, so he busied his hands with grabbing his stuff and putting it in his bag.

When his phone went off again it was a huge relief.

_M: I think I’d like it more with you._

_M: he seemed… not bored, but like he’d been there before and it was okay._

_M: you seem very enthusiastic about the prospect._

He didn’t know if she knew how much that stroked his ego, but Ryuji was typing away before he even really thought about what he was saying.

_R: I’m worn out, I’m hungry, and my girl wants to take me to my favorite place to eat!_

_R: what’s not to be excited about!!!_

_R: :D_

He started absently walking back towards the doors to the main building from the courtyard, eyes on his phone and not even paying attention to where he was going. Too happy to care.

_M: This isn’t a date._

Ryuji bumped into the corner leading to the front entrance. “Agh?! The Eff!! Sonva-grr…” he growled, rubbing his nose and side stepping the corner. Pouting under his hand at her response.

_R: Can it be a date?_

_R: you liked the last one~_

His pout became a smirk as he remembered how flustered she got in the back of the bookstore in Shibuya when he showed her certain manga he liked. She didn’t put them down, just got incredibly red as she flipped through the pages. It had been a beautiful moment.

_M: it can be a date… if we study afterwards._

The blonde stood in the center of the shoe locker area, grinning from ear to ear.

_R: sexy studying?_

He knew what her answer was going to be. Makoto did not fool around when it was crunch time and exams were next week.

… but he also knew how she acted when the pressure was on, so he could hope.

Besides, they hadn’t done anything ‘fun’ like that after their last date, even if the whole event had been fun in itself. Just spending time with her outside their ‘normal’ routine was actually fun, not as kinky, but definitely fun. Was that bad?

_M: I’m not sure your mother would approve of that…_

_M: ;P_

She used an emoji. Niijima Makoto used a fucking emoji!!

And it was a winky face!!

Ryuji stared at his phone. This was a moment in history.

Then he realized what she said.

_R: wait-what’s my mom have to do with this?_

_…_

_R: you’re not suggesting we study at my place?_

That dread was back and suddenly the blonde boy was terrified.

_M: why not?_

_M: you don’t have your books here, so they must be at your house._

_M: besides, I’m the Class President, I’m sure your mom would be most appreciative of me using my time to help her son score well on the exams next week._

This was both a dream come true and a terrifying nightmare. What the hell did Ryuji tell his mom when he came home with a girl, an older girl, from his school, and they were-were…

Wait, they’d only be studying-studying… his mom would be fine with that?

And didn’t she work late tonight?

_R: Damnit!_

_R: you’re a conartist you know that!_

_…_

_R: its damn sexy_

_R: ;P_

_R: I’m waiting up front._

\-----

Makoto had to put a hand over her mouth to stop the giggle, it wasn’t very becoming of the Class President to be giggling as she leaned against the wall on the first floor next to the stairs. Then again most of what she was doing wasn’t very upstanding for the Class President anyway. Phantom Thief, secret relationship with a lower classmate, skipping out on studying...

She did legitimately want to help Ryuji study. From his grades last time and constant grumbling, clearly he needed the help… and it wasn’t like she was able to focus on her own studying right now.

The brunette gave a deep sigh and pushed off the wall, “Okay, a meal to reset, then back to studying.” She was not nervous about going to his home and possibly meeting his mother. It was an offer she threw out, totally not expecting it to be accepted, but there it was. She could do this. They were just going to study. _Just. Study._

Red eyes glanced at the tail end of their conversation and she knew that was boldfaced lie.

“I’m sure I can come up with something.” Ryuji had his moments of insight, he was just really energetic or moody, just needed the right incentive to get him on a task and then he was really good at it. She knew this for a fact!

- _A game perhaps?_ \- She needed to somehow bribe him into studying. She knew the only reason he was even accepting this deal was because he wanted this to be another date. Not that she was against it… it was a fun idea… and it’d make it their second ‘official’ date.

Suddenly the idea of something Eiko told her about came to mind and she could not help the red that dashed across her face. – _Well, I’m sure I can apply the concept of strip-poker to studying…_ \- a wicked smirk Queen would be proud of spread across her flushed face. – _Sexy Studying indeed…_ -

She had turned the corner and was walking towards the front with that smirk on her face, and she knew the moment Ryuji looked at her, his face going from an easy grin to surprise to a wide fanged grin like Skull.

“You look like you’ve got a dangerous idea about something?” a thin brow quirked her way.

Queen rubbed her chin, red eyes on fire as she looked at the boy, “Just thinking about how to make our study session a bit more… _interesting…_ ” her voice seemed to make the boy melt, which she _completely_ ignored as she went to change her shoes.

Ryuji just dumbly nodded, getting to his feet and crept up beside, speaking in a low voice only she could here, “So… sexy studying?”

Red eyes flicked his way, “We’ll see…” she closed up her locker and turned towards the doors, “if you really study _hard_ ,” the glance she gave him over her shoulder was deadly and made him weak in the knees, “I might just reward you.”

And off she went through the glass doors.

Ryuji quickly picked himself up off the floor and chased after her. He’d be a good boy, they’d have a great time at Ogikubo, and then they’d go back to his place to study! And he’d try damn hard!

He really hoped his mom had work tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't feel like this is as strong as some other chapters, but then i read the bit about boy-cat fight and just go 'fuckit!' i like Makoto being distracted by Ryuji running and them planning naughty games... sue me~
> 
> been loving the comments! glad you guys are having fun :3


	13. Festival Excursion

10/26 – Festival Excursion

_R: Hey, you okay?_

_R: Look kinda lonely over there_

Makoto pulled up her phone after it went off and was surprised to see who it was. Red eyes glanced around the crowded auditorium. After what happened back in the office with Akechi she had been understandably irritable. Their trap to gain information on the police investigation had been turned on them, forcing them into something possibly worse working for the young detective.

And their target was her sister, so of course she was angry.

She had wanted to just go home after that, or a gym, or Mementos and destroy a few floors of shadows.

But of course, she couldn’t. Her duties as a Phantom Thief, her desires to just escape, they could not be fulfilled until her requirements as the Class President for the school festival were handled.

That’s why she was standing here, off to the side of the auditorium, presenting herself as calm and aloof, just watching as a _good student_ should be.

So why was she surprised Ryuji would notice. With a sigh, she typed back a response.

_M: I’m not lonely_

_M: more like annoyed_

After hitting the send button she put her hands behind her back, preventing herself from crossing them in front of her and further tipping anyone off.

It wasn’t long before her phone vibrated again.

_R: I’d say you’re lookin’ a little pissed, My Queen (~3*)~ <3_

_R: Scratch that, more than a little, you look like you want to throttle someone with Anet’s tire treads >3<_

A brunette brow rose as she looked at the screen skeptically. Unconscious of the rising smirk on her lips.

_M: How the hell can you read that from wherever you’re skulking?_

_M: and are those supposed to be cute and dissuade me from my clearly, obvious desire for rampaging?_

By the end of the sarcasm, as she hit the send button, she was actually smiling. Not a particularly nice smile, as the idea of doing a few dangerous donuts in here on her persona-bike sounded like a delightfully fabulous idea right now, especially if Akechi was tied up in the center and squirming…

Luckily her phone went off again before she could entertain the idea further.

_R: can I say they’re smooches trying to calm you down?_

_R: or at the very least to persuade you to let me join you on any fun rampaging?_

_R: :D_

Makoto had to raise her hand to stop herself from laughing out loud, let alone hide the probably creepy smile on her face. Ryuji was really good at distracting her when she was in a bad mood.

“All right, that was a great performance by the dance club! Everybody give them another round of applause!!” The post-festival MC shouted out to the crowd, earning a wave of applause.

_R: take a load of this guy?_

_R: trying to get everyone riled up for a school thing, huh?_

Red eyes rolled as she stared at the punk’s text.

_M: You do realize I’m the Student Council President right?_

_M: Organizing and planning these school functions is part of that job…_

The little dots in the conversation bubbled stopped. Either Ryuji didn’t have a witty response or he was trying to come up with something dramatic.

“And now, it’s time for your favorite Shujin tradition! The student sharing special!!” the MC had his hand up, pointing to the ceiling, trying to amp up the excitement, “Round of applause, everyone!!”

_R: damnit, I say anything I’m in the dog house right?_

Pulling her hand up to cover her smile, Makoto just chuckled and texted the poor boy back.

_M: maybe_

_M: ;P_

Her smirk grew as the bubble with the dots continued as Ryuji was typing away frantically.

_R:_ _Man not this event_

_R: I remember it from last year, nothing ever good comes from it_

_M: yea, it’s never been that popular, the teachers like it and insist on it every year_

Makoto swore she could hear someone laughing in the crowd that sounded suspiciously like Skull.

“AAAALLL RIGHT!!” the MC was pumped, “Who has something say? Anyone, anyone!? Noooo?” he put his hand over his brow like a visor and looked around the crowd, “I’ll just have to pick someone then!”

_R: oh man, tell me you didn’t pick this guy? XD_

_M: Shockingly he’s doing better than the guy last year…_

“OOOOH!!” the MC suddenly stopped, looking off towards the far wall, “Is that our lovely student council president over there!?”

At the sound of ‘student council president’ Makoto’s head shot up, “Huh?!”

_R: XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD_

Red eyes glared at her phone before the spotlight covered her.

“Come on up here, Miss Prez!!” The MC had his hand out, waving it towards her.

Putting on her best ‘Class President’ face, and adding a mix of trepidation, Makoto couldn’t help asking out loud, “Do I have to go?”

She had a feeling Ryuji was out in the crowd laughing his ass off somewhere and their Leader was probably chiding about how she had to since this was something she’d set up, so had to participate. – _Goddamnit…_ -

“Everybody’s waiting for you, Miss President!!” the damn MC spoke with a smile, throwing on the charm.

At this point Makoto hated him. She turned a glance to her phone, feeling it going off.

_R: You don’t have do it!_

_R: it’s a trap!_

The brunette gave her phone a forlorn look, knowing Ryuji was trying to be helpful.

With a sigh she looked back up to the stage, knowing she had a duty and image to uphold.

“Here she is!!” the MC was waving Makoto on stage as she was trying her best to not appear as pissed off as she felt at all this, coming off as very embarrassed and shy instead, “Everyone’s favorite student council president, Makoto Niijima-san!!”

When he threw the mike in Makoto’s face she couldn’t help but blush and feel terribly uncomfortable under the lights, “Hello…”

The MC seemed to gear up, pumping his fists as he spoke swiftly into the mike, “So, with the Kamoshida scandal, principle Kobayakawa’s passing, and even that Hawaii trip… I’d be surprised if you’ve had any time to study for your entrance exams!!”

Unconsciously red crept up the class president’s face at the mention of all the things she’d been involved in one way or another this year.

He continued, “Now then, on with the show!” the MC turned to the crowd, trying to bolster people’s enthusiasm before turning back to Makoto, “What would you like to share with us today, Miss President?”

Blank red eyes just stared back at the MC.

“Um… Miss President?” the MC prodded again.

“Ummm…” Nervously Makoto tucked her hair behind her ear, trying to avoid any eye contact, “I… don’t really have anything to say…” she gave a quick bow, hoping to be out of this situation soon, “I’m sorry.”

There were some ‘aww’s and ‘boo’s from the crowd, but that didn’t seem to mean a thing to the MC as he somehow kept his pep up, “Here! I’ll give you a question!” another bout of dramatic flair, “Do you think the Phantom Thieve are really Shujin students?!”

“What?!” red eyes went wide as Makoto stared at the guy, shocked he’d dare ask her that.

“We’re all dying to know what Akechi-kun was going to say about their true identities!!” the MC seemed to be trying to bring up the tension and get the crowd all excited, he completely missed how for a second Makoto’s crimson eyes flashed towards him with a hint of spite. By the time he turned back to the Class President, with more dramatic arm waving for the crowd, she had her docile public mask on again, “Some people theorize that they go to our very school!!” he leaned in close, making Makoto uncomfortable, “So, are they from Shujin? What do you think, Miss President?”

Taking a moment to run her hand through her hair, Makoto hoped she looked more nervous than as annoyed as she felt, “What… do I think…? That’s…” for a second she glanced into the crowd, hoping to avoid this topic all together and find some way out.

Ryuji was in the center of the crowd, only a few rows in and had his phone up to his ear and a grin that would make Skull proud.

In seconds her phone went off with a generic ring tone and instantly Makoto grabbed it, her face red with embarrassment, “S-Sorry, I need to take this!” immediately she turned away from the crowd and the MC, pulling up her phone and answering it behind her hand, “H-hello?”

“ _Looks like you need an escape plan, Queen?”_ it was Ryuji’s voice, of course it was.

Makoto visibly relaxed, a small smile spreading on her face, “Y-yes, I see, of course…” quickly she glanced back into the crowd, Ryuji just winked at her when their eyes met and turned around, clearly heading out of the auditorium.

_“I’ll be up on the roof, think you can get there?”_ he was smiling, she could hear it.

“No-no, that’s no problem, I’ll be there soon.” Smiling kindly, Makoto hung up her phone, pretending as if she had forgotten what was going on, starting when she looked up to see the crowd and the MC just staring at her. Putting on a bit of charm and knocking the embarrassment up to eleven, she politely bowed, “S-sorry everyone, duty calls!”

“AWW!!” the crowd erupted.

“Can you believe it folks!! Look at that!!” the MC waved his hand presenting Makoto again as she was trying to leave, “Our hard working Class President Ladies and gentleman! Let’s give her a round of applause!!”

The crowd started cheering and clapping and the MC was coming up with more nonsense, making Makoto stop and give another embarrassed bow before rushing back stage and out of the auditorium.

“Well I guess we did get to see something folks! The blushing beauty of our hard working and dedicated Class President off to help another student!! Can you guys believe it!!” The MC managed to get out before Makoto fully closed the door behind.

Once outside and relatively alone, she couldn’t help but smirk, glancing down at her phone.

_R: So what do I get for giving you a perfect out, Class Prez?_

_R: ;P_

Makoto just smirked like Queen, enjoying the fact they got away with such a show as she typed away a reply, heading towards the roof.

_M: I’ve got something sweet you might like…_

Now for just a quick stop at her locker.

\-----

“I feel like I should be making a joke about cops and doughnuts,” Ryuji smirked as Makoto walked onto the rooftop with a box full of doughnuts.

Red eyes just narrowed on him as she walked closer to the table he was sitting on, “You want them or not?”

Dark brown eyes just looked her up and down as Ryuji gave a fanged grin, “When you said something sweet I was thinking something a bit different.” He winked, trying to knock her off balance.

A bit of red did spread on Makoto’s face when she picked up what he was saying… but she wasn’t one to fall for such an easy taunt from him. Setting the box of doughnuts down on the table, before purposefully setting her hand flat in the space between his legs and leaning in close to him with a hard crimson stare, “Who said I was only talking about the doughnuts?”

A funny grin spread on Ryuji’s face as he reached behind him to grab one of the doughnuts and take a bite in front of her, trying to be snide. Instead his eyes widened and he looked at the circular confection in his hand, “Damn, this is great! You make these?!”

Whatever confidence Makoto managed to muster in her momentary lapse into Queen disappeared as embarrassed red hues spread across her cheeks, “Er… um… well…” nervously she sat next to Ryuji and became exceptionally interested in her hands, “We were supposed to bring something… so I just made some… and extra… so…”

Ryuji leaned around Makoto, both to steal a kiss on her cheek and grab another doughnut from the box on her other side. He pulled back, giving a wide grin, finding her red face exceptionally cute, as he pulled up his sugar coated thumb and put it in his mouth, sucking a bit harder than necessary and pulling it out with a **_pop!_** And licked his lips, “Either way, tastes great to me…” then took another bite of another doughnut.

Narrow red eyes just stared at him, a wry smirk playing at her lips as she leaned back on her hands.

Ryuji seemed to blink a moment, halfway eating one of the doughnuts, his dark brown eyes glancing from the confection in his hand to Makoto on the abandoned desk looking awfully sultry. He gulped hard, swallowing the doughnut, and stared at her with wide eyes. The most they’d done since they started ‘trying out dating’ was stress-making out in Mementos, which didn’t really count since for some godawful reason they couldn’t remove their thief getups in that place, and them teasing each other on their two ‘real’ dates so far. Something about rules on dating and not having sex till the third date, Ryuji swore she got this idea from some cheesy romance movie or that damn bitch Eiko. – _WHO HAS NO REASON TO TALK ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS!!_ \- He was still a bit salty about that mess with his bro and his girl because of that yankee-wannabe.

So Makoto, looking like _that_ , leaning on the abandoned desk, up here, on the school roof, while everything was going on downstairs… and sweet, sweet _doughnuts_!

It nearly gave the poor boy an aneurism as his pants became quite obviously uncomfortable.

“Please tell me you’re not teasing me,” Ryuji full on whined and he was not going to deny it. He missed that sweet sexy body and the number of rules they’d be breaking was just so hot… so, so, so hot.

Makoto, or really Queen, just missing the mask and leather clad outfit, the devious evil and calculating vixen she was with that sinister grin, leaned forward, one hand undoing the top two buttons on her shirt, giving him a heavenly view, then reached forward, drawing a line from the base of his neck, up his bobbing Adam’s apple, and flicked the end of his chin in a comehither motion while drawing him closer and speaking huskily to his ear, “Oh there will be _some_ teasing…”

There was another whine as the poor boy’s grip on the table tightened, “Yes, my Queen,” he leaned into her, his cheek touching hers and both enjoyed the warm touch. Her hand slipped up, around his neck and into his hair sending shivers throughout his body. He couldn’t help the snide smirk, he was Skull, a fellow thief after all, “What about your rule?” he chuckled low as she stiffened a moment, “Are you breaking it?”

There was a long pause before she brought both her hands up to cup his face, her vibrant crimson eyes matching his dark ones and Queen was definitely smirking at Skull, “We’re thieves,” she leaned her forehead to his, speaking to his lips, “We’re supposed to break rules…”

Skull gave a wide, wicked grin, “Well, we do this and get caught, we’ll probably get expelled for all the rules we’ll be breaking, both the school’s and decorum and all that adult shit…” he gave a wink, not caring if she could see it with how close they were. His hands finally moving from the table to up her thighs as he leaned his body close to hers, touching her inner most recesses to his restrained hardness.

There was a wave of heat coming off Makoto, she was _clearly_ desiring this as much as him, as she ran a finger along his lower lip, “Then let’s be good thieves and not get caught.”

That shark-like grin of Skull’s grew before he claimed her mouth, a rush of passion, desire and need passing between both of them. Tongues and teeth clashed in rough demanding tugs and suckles as their hands moved in rushed motions, too excited to remember how things worked.

There was a chuckle and neither were sure who it was, or if it was both of them. They were fumbling worse now than their first time

Finally Makoto pulled just enough away to put her finger on Ryuji’s mouth, biting her own lip and smirking, “Ah, I said I have something sweet for you…” her red eyes glanced down.

Still in a bit of a haze Ryuji followed her gaze, looking at her ruffled up skirt and getting undoubtedly what she meant. A new rush of red passed along his face as his eyes darted back to hers, “Th-that’s… you sure?”

In an act of boldness, she clutched the collar of his shirt, looking him in the eye seriously, “That’s an order.”

Ryuji’s eyes shrunk and red rushed to his face, he’d missed how hot Queen’s orders were.

When he started to move down, Makoto seemed to get a peculiar look in her eye, “Kneel.”

There was almost a squeal as Ryuji did just that, “Yes, my Queen!”

She had to cover up the giggle that popped up, both because that was cute and because this was extremely embarrassing. She wasn’t sure Ryuji would be willing, most research she’d done into oral sex seemed to suggest guys didn’t like doing it on girls, but Ryuji was always one to jump when she ordered.

He made her squeak when he grabbed her thighs tightly, putting them both on his shoulders and looked like a predator up to her, his face only inches away from the fringes of her skirt, “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to try this…”

“I, er…” that was unexpected, hot and embarrassing, as red eyes stared at the surprising boy, “… have, too…” it was a lot more embarrassing saying it out loud. But watching as Ryuji moved closer, his hands rubbing her thighs on his shoulders and nuzzled her mound was both terrifying and tantalizing to watch.

The boy licked his lips, rubbing along her inner-thighs up with his nose and nibbling bits here and there. He made it to her panties and licked his lips before diving in to her panties. He had no idea what he was doing but knowing how it all worked with his fingers, Ryuji figured he could get this done. Besides he’d always wanted to try this.

There was the heavy scent of arousal, he knew it from the other times they’d had sex and it was just such a damn turn on for him. his dick hated him right now, stuck in his pants, while he was this close to what it really wanted.

She was already a bit wet, and an experimental lick to her panties and he got the hint of her flavor and that of fabric.

Pulling back a second, Ryuji stuck out his tongue, for a second worrying Makoto before he gave a funny face, “It’s not you, panties just taste terrible…” he stuck out his tongue a bit more and wiggled it around as if trying to get the taste off.

Makoto gave him a wry look, a bit embarrassed by this whole situation, but not going to give up on it just yet, “So why don’t you just take them off?” her hand moved down to do it herself but then his own stopped her.

Ryuji was giving her a challenging look, his smirk growing, “Got a better idea,” before Makoto could do anything she felt his hands move down under her skirt and just simply push the offending fabric out of the way, it made a tight stretching feel before she was distracted by hot breath and a warm tongue.

Biting her lip, Makoto leaned back, now just focusing on the pleasure and staying just conscious enough to not start calling out any incriminating names.

With one thumb hooked around the middle part of her panties, keeping it out of the way, Ryuji had full access to his goal. Creeping up her thigh with his other hand he used his thumb to rub along her outer lips, his ears pricking up for the sounds she made and the way her thighs tightened on his shoulders, as his mouth moved to encompass that precious, sensitive nub at the top.

Using his tongue he moved up and down the inner spine, like he would with his finger, only instead of giving a flick at the end he’d suck on the tip, exploring any crevice he could find, the tip of his wily tongue dipping between her folds and slipping in just the smallest bit with every stroke up and down.

It forced Makoto to bit down harder, her chest heaving with each stroke, to the point she had to put her hands over her mouth as her eyes closed tight, focusing solely on what he was doing. Only the smallest whines made it through, unable to catch them in her throat as with each lap of his tongue she slowly lost the battle of consciousness.

Picking up those tiny moans and feeling how tense her legs and whole body was getting, Ryuji could only grin, proud of himself as he stuck his tongue all the way in, moving his free hand up, the thumb stroking her nub as his fingers pet the trim curls above.

His tongue went in and out, testing out how deep he could go, where he could touch and taste, as he bent it back to rub up along a spot he usually hit with his fingers, then tried flexing his tongue, widening it and thinning it out to different effects as he played with her entrance, enjoying the tangy taste as she got wetter and wetter.

Makoto was breathing quickly through her nose, biting her finger as her body curled with the tightening, pleasurable sensation. She missed being with him, there was no doubt about that, and either she was just so desperate to have his touch or he was _really_ good at this. Her free hand moved along her body, just needing further touch, as it passed over her breasts, undoing some of the buttons along her shirt and pushing down to her stomach, to her skirt and eventually underneath, finding his fingers.

Momentarily Ryuji looked up, opening his eyes when he felt Makoto’s fingers touching his own, and he got to see such a delicious sight. His view from her most sacred spot was of the young woman taut in pleasure, her knees spread but tight, skirt bunched up, her shirt pulled up showing her trim stomach with her bra and perky breasts just barely hiding her chin, as clearly she had her head thrown back in pleasure, her hand the only thing stopping her from crying out.

It made Ryuji lick his lips, switching it up so his hand was thrusting a finger in, then another as she moaned louder behind her hand, as he focused all the dexterity of his tongue on her little pleasure button.

This caused her hips to jerk, her back to curl more, and her free hand to move up, grabbing a fist full of his hair.

It was enough to cause him to thrust forward hard, both of them groaning at the motion as he now had three fingers in and her nub trapped between his teeth.

“Ryu… ji…” both of her hands went to her mouth as Makoto hit that edge hard.

The blonde had his tongue back in, stretched out as much as he could, as he had both hands grab around her knees, pulling her wider for him.

He felt her inner walls tighten and clinch down on his tongue harder as a much sweeter taste enveloped his tongue.

There was a muffled moan and her legs nearly strangled him, but Ryuji couldn’t say this wasn’t the hottest damn thing he’d ever seen… and so tasty!

As her breathing started to even out and Makoto came down from the orgasmic high, her red eyes cracked open, dazed as she felt Ryuji lean up and cover her body. Before she knew it he was kissing her and there was a distinctly tangy taste that wasn’t normally there.

It took Makoto’s mind a second to put the pieces together before her eyes widened and she pushed up him, glaring at his smirk and wiped her mouth, “That’s… gross…” it was supposed to be gross right?

Ryuji just chuckled, pressing his hard captive shaft to her wet panties, “You want something even grosser?” there was a dark look in his eyes as he hovered over her, licking his lips and clearly enjoying himself and the flavor of her there as his hips pushed forward, making his present condition quite obvious.

Again, it took a second for Makoto’s post-cuming mind to put the pieces together and immediately her red eyes darted to their joined hips and the obvious bulge there. Red rushed to her face, she couldn’t say she hadn’t thought of it before…

Before she could so much as reply, Ryuji held her close, switching their position so he was the one laying on the table with her on top. He gave an encouraging wink and Skull-like smirk, “I trust you!”

Still blushing red, both from coming down and her own arousal, Makoto pushed up and stared at the boy below her. He was sweating, flushed, his clothes were ruffled and with a bit of embarrassment she realized the collar of his shirt was soaked, “I… did that?”

Ryuji followed her gaze, lifting his hand to feel around his neck and got a funny smirk, “Think it’s more I did that to you,” he leaned up close, the tangy texture still on his lips as he licked them next to hers, “But if you want to blame yourself for something, _My Queen_ ,” he took her hand, placing it over the uncomfortably tight bulge in his pants, “This is all _you_.”

Makoto barely had enough time to register her hand on him as he lowered his mouth to her exposed neck, licking and suckling there causing a warm fuzzy feeling to light up her body.

She knew what he was doing, it was coaxing, it was encouraging, it was goddamn teasing! But damn if it didn’t work! “Who… said… you could… tease…”

Skull’s hand just moved up, slipping into her open shirt and finding its way to one of her captive breasts, giving a tight squeeze as he smirked to her throat, “Just encouraging,” his warm breath and deep chuckle reverberated through her neck, “You seem a bit nervous…”

Red flashed towards him, spreading across her cheeks, “I’m not nervous…”

“Oh?” she could feel his lashes on her cheek as he moved her hand, undoing the button of his slacks, “Then why are you so red?”

Those dangerous red eyes of hers met his dark ones and her hand expertly dropped his zipper, reaching into his underwear and taking hold of him, balls and all. A devilish smirk rose on her confident face as he made a little whimper, “I was just planning the best way to attack.”

Ryuji groaned as her hand gripped him. God he missed that hand. Sure, he was used to his own, what guy wasn’t?! but there was just something about someone else touching him… and he knew how strong her hands were with how she could destroy shadows with a single punch, adding a level of danger that was just so kinky.

But this? This that he was asking? For his _Queen_ to go down on him like he’d just did for her? - _Ooooh man… it’s just so… wait-fuck-no!_ -

Makoto watched him lay back, a curiously euphoric look encompassing his face as his shaft got harder in her hand. In a really weird way it was cute. She covered up this clearly not-erotic thought by sending him a devious smirk worthy of her title, “You seem excited,” now she was just teasing, rubbing along the shaft and head, taking her time as she moved down.

“Hrrgghhhnn,” Ryuji just made a frustrated sound, covering his face with his hands as she moved between his legs after pulling him out of his underwear into the cool night air. “You have NO idea,” his hands came down his face, covering his mouth as he looked down seeing his girl’s face level with his cock.

His balls pulled in tight and he tried very hard to get his mind to calm down.

Some strange squeal released from behind his hands and Makoto couldn’t help but pause, raising a brow, “Are you okay?”

“Mm-hmm!!” vigorously he shook his head, clearly too excited, eyes dark and focused on her lips and the tip of his head, not wanting to miss a single moment.

It was a bit weird, how intense Ryuji was staring, but Makoto tried to ignore it. Red eyes gazed down at the velvety soft _rod_ in her hand… and gulped hard.

This was very weird, in many senses, and the few doujin she _may_ have _acquired_ during their little hiatus didn’t exactly help in explaining all the mechanics for oral sex on guys. There were the general rules of ‘no teeth’ and ‘don’t throw up’ thanks to the gag reflex and… DAMNIT!! She was overthinking this!

“Just do what you’re comfortable with,” called from above the stalwart phallus. Glancing up Makoto could see Ryuji smirking, encouraging as always with his crooked grin, “Just think what you do with your fingers and try with your tongue! S’what I did!”

Staring at him, Makoto really hoped her face wasn’t as obviously embarrassed as she felt. She did want to, at least with Ryuji. During their first time the thought had crossed her mind, likely thanks to already being so turned on, but they were in such a rush of need and for her sticking to what she’d decided, she didn’t think either of them were really thinking that much on what _exactly_ they were doing or could be doing.

Looking at his shaft, the large darker shaded head, the precum sliding out… she always found it fascinating when Ryuji put on a condom. Maybe she really did just want a ‘better look’ at what he was carrying around.

Unconsciously she licked her lips, slowly, tugging along her teeth, red eyes fixated on his member. One hand grabbed his shaft, running her thumb up along the divot of his head, rubbing precum all over coating him from tip to the edges of his head.

There was a groan above her, Ryuji throwing his head back from the foreign strokes, biting his lower lip, “Uh… damnit!” the boy seemed to be ‘holding back’, breathing out his nose like a bull. It was clear he was fighting his normal response, and losing, as he kept trying to look back down at her, just to watch.

It was surprisingly encouraging, the blonde delinquent so determined to see what she was doing… but really in no condition to do it properly as with each stroke around his sensitive head he was fighting groaning, the small sounds catching in his throat as he breathed out roughly through his nose.

It was cute. Makoto knew that considering a _guy_ cute, with his dick out, in her hand as she relatively played with it, and struggling to _watch_ her was not a normal definition of something cute, but somehow Ryuji managed it.

It certainly made this situation easier, thinking of him like that, and seeing it.

Experimentally, teasingly, she leaned in close to his head, red eyes directly on his as she stuck her tongue out, sticking it between the divot on the underside of his head and pulling up for a light trail to the tip.

The whole thing, and Ryuji, twitched. He was breathing harder through his nose, dark eyes focused on her as he tensed just to make sure he was seeing every bit of this.

There was a sharp flavor to his pre-cum, it actually wasn’t that bad. Experimentally Makoto did it again, sticking more of his head in her mouth, spreading her tongue around the tip of his head, trimming just under the edge.

The poor blonde boy was shaking.

“The… the shaft…” his breathing was tight, forced. It took everything he had just to keep his gaze on her and his hands at his side.

Those dangerous red eyes glanced up at him, not even releasing him, and giving _him_ a look like he was the one interrupting.

It made Ryuji internally scream. Queen had _NO RIGHT_ being that hot! – _Especially with my manhood in her mouth…_ \- a squeak may have escaped his throat.

A brunette brow rose as the boy just rolled his head back, breathing hard out his nose and if she were paying more attention she’d notice his hands were fists at his sides. But honestly she wasn’t really, she heard what he said and not sure _exactly_ what he meant, released his head and licked along the shaft, humming lightly, getting into this new exploration.

Ryuji groaned, fists tightening. That wasn’t exactly what he wanted but it still felt good, giving his tip a chance to recoup from all that attention.

Not that it lasted long, her mouth was over him again, experimentally pushing down further. It got uncomfortable at one point, he was thicker than she realized, and longer than her mouth, and it wasn’t like she was experienced like this, and she could feel her gag reflex nearly kicking in.

She still wanted to try this out, doing it ‘properly’ but didn’t want to mess up so soon, or get sick on him. Without really thinking about it, she just grabbed the base of his cock with one hand, pulling and squeezing it in rhythm with her mouth and that alleviated any problem.

Adding a little twist had Ryuji banging on the table, biting his lip hard to push down the moans wanting to get out.

The noise honestly surprised Makoto, she hadn’t been paying attention, figuring this out and getting a bit distracted. A quick glance showed how tight Ryuji’s whole body was from her actions, the boy was on edge, holding himself back, nearly clawing at the table as he was breathing through grit teeth.

It was… really hot.

She went back down, running her tongue all along his length, sucking on the head as she pulled at his base, even tugging his balls with her other hand.

His hips started jerking and before she knew it Ryuji was grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her up.

Too surprised, Makoto had no response when he pulled her lips to his, thrusting his tongue inside her mouth, and considering what she had just been doing the sensation was surprisingly pleasant and similar.

In a daze they moved, Ryuji flipping them back over, laying Makoto out on the table as he stepped between her legs, never breaking the rough kiss, her arms around his back, hand in his hair, as he pulled her tight with one hand on her waist, the other holding under one of her knees and ground his hard cock against her wetness.

It was only when his hand was moving her panties out of the way and he put his head right at her entrance that they separated and could breathe for just a moment.

“Ryuji…”

Her soft voice next to his face, the smell of both of them mingling with their breath. At this moment he could see right into her dilated red eyes, how wild they were, lost to what they were doing…

Something was buzzing in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t remember what it was…

He just took the extra step forward, taking her lips, pitting his tongue with hers and swallowing both of their moans as he went in.

Her hand claw at the back of his head, she was so much tighter than he remembered, or maybe it was because her panties were still on, as her heels dug into his waist.

He tried to hold on, gripping what he could but wound up holding onto the edge of the table, hearing its metal feet scrap with each thrust.

Makoto moaned loudly when he finally removed his mouth from hers, needing to concentrate… though that was so much harder with her making those noises right next to his ear…

“Ryuji… just… right… almost…” her voice was encouraging, the only thing keeping him straight and grounded at the moment as he pushed in deeper, burying his sweaty forehead into her shoulder, breathing deep.

She was close, so close he could feel her tightening around him as her legs started to shake…

He was close too. – _C’mon… just a bit more… don’t blow yet man…_ \- he needed to concentrate, he didn’t remember her being this hot or slick…

There was a noise behind him, something heavy scraping…

“Ryu-!!” he could hear her distress and without even fully registering it, Ryuji picked his Queen up, her legs holding around his hips tightly, and he bolted behind one of the big old machines.

“Its just up here, I’m sure-!!” the heavy roof door opened, a familiar male voice calling out and abruptly stopping.

“Is something wrong, _maaaster~?_ ” a woman’s voice? It sounded familiar too but really fake.

There was a long pause before the original male voice spoke again, “Sorry, I think someone was up here,” the door started to close, “Don’t want to get caught-!!” and with a heavy slam they were gone.

All Ryuji could hear was his heart beating in his hears… and feel Makoto tight around his dick.

His breathing was ragged, and when he looked up, she was just the same…

“That…” Ryuji breathed in deeply, laying his head back against the big machine, “That was too close…”

Makoto snorted, supporting herself above him leaning against the thing with her arms, “No… kidding…” with a deep sigh she pushed up, shuddering as he slipped out and glared flat red eyes at the blonde boy below her.

At first Ryuji blinked, then looked at his still erect member… his _uncovered_ erect member, “Oh shit!!” for some reason his next response was to put his hand over his head, blushing embarrassed.

Red eyes just stared at him a moment before she snorted and rolled her eyes, standing up with a sigh. This rendezvous escalated quickly, she’d just meant to tease him some, maybe try oral, hadn’t really thought about anything beyond that…

“S-sorry, Makoto,” Ryuji was still blushing, taking a deep breath and tucking himself back into his pants, “That, uh… heh,” he grinned bashfully, “You caught me by surprise?” his grin was stupid and he was clearly embarrassed, but he was being sincere, “Guess you were just too good for me to handle, hehe.”

Arms crossed, and a bit of a blush herself, she looked away from the poor boy. It wasn’t just his fault… she had… liked it a bit too much too, not really paying attention either. – _I didn’t know sex could feel any better…_ \- the blush spread as she thought about the sensation, him bareback inside her hand felt… completely different to him with a condom on. She wasn’t stupid, she knew that unprotected sex like that could have resulted in her getting pregnant… but it had felt good… - _Damnit! That’s way too dangerous! Especially now!_ -

Pressing her thumb to her forehead she just shook her head, this was not something she needed to be thinking about right now!

Watching her get frustrated, Ryuji just smirked. Sure, his dick hurt and he could feel his balls going blue and being pissed at him for putting them away just as they were about to cum, but it was a good thing in the end. He stood up, putting his hands on Makoto’s shoulders, touching his forehead to hers, “Hey… it’s my fault, alright?”

“Huh? Ryuji…?” she was a bit surprised by his sudden closeness, but it was surprisingly comforting. He was still warm… and she still wanted to be near him.

His smirk became a happy grin, “Don’t worry,” he squeezed her shoulders, hopefully being comforting, “I wouldn’t run off like my asshole of an old man. I’d be with you if… i-if anything happened.”

His stroking her shoulders and upper arms was comforting, same with his closeness, but Makoto could feel him burning up, blushing most likely. It didn’t help that she was too, “T-that… well, um…” she swallowed hard, that was… _something_. Not sure how to respond, Makoto pulled back enough to look Ryuji in the face.

He was pouting, trying to look serious but not coming off right. He was sincere at least.

She almost felt bad leaving him hanging like this.

With a small embarrassed smirk, she pushed back some hair behind her ear, nervously looking at the ground, “Y-you’re quite the dependable guy, huh, Ryuji?”

“Eh-heh,” that silly grin of his was back, nervously scratching one of his cheeks, “Well, I can at least hope I am…”

Smiling, Makoto leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, “My sister always says if I get married, my husband should be someone dependable…” with a smirk she turned on her heel and started walking towards the exit of the roof, trying to leave before her nerves went out and the blush on her cheeks killed her.

Ryuji was left stunned, still stuck in the pose of holding her as she just left him.

Then a grin spread on his lips, wide and cheeky as he slid down back to the concrete ground behind one of those old machines on the rooftop.

He pulled out his phone typing up something quickly, knowing she’d see it.

_R: … so was that a proposal?_

_R: :D_

He didn’t get a reply that night.

But man, those doughnuts were sweet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never intended this to take this long... but man i'm feeling better about how this turned out than my original plan for it XD guess time just helped out~
> 
> Ryuji you precious boy~
> 
> here's more smutt for you pervs~ learn something! while angsting and rereading and trying to figure out what to do for this kink i realized i was basically writing a sex manual with this story... so here's some tips! cause i am sick and tired of reading bad or flat oral in my lemons~ just saying 'and then he/she went down on her/him' is not enough! least for me *snorts*
> 
> ... and yes, oral sex is being done AFTER all the sex they've done~ i don't know about you all, but its more complicated to get right than regular sex, and requires a lot more trust... teeth near sensitive bits is a bit terrifying for both parties XD
> 
> also yes, i know this isn't a rank up... the festival date is always a waste of point gains XD they gained enough points last time but oh well~ required events and all~


	14. Rank 9

10/29 – Confidant Rank 9

_M: Ryuji…_

_M: I…_

_M: I need you_

That was all it took and the boy was out of his house and on his way towards the entrance of Mementos.

The past few days had been kind of shitty for Makoto, what with that twat detective telling them they had to dig up dirt on her sister, going into the metaverse and actually _finding_ a Palace for Sae Niijima, and then actually… actually _seeing_ some twisted version of her sister?

It… it wasn’t right.

The whole time between his own surprise and fury, Ryuji just wanted to reach out and hold Makoto.

Even as Queen, that iron mask of hers couldn’t hide everything. Not the shock, sorrow or guilt at what she had seen become of her sister.

She had admitted to the team that the whole reason she had followed them, had agreed to join them, to bother with even _being_ a Phantom Thief, had been in the hopes of somehow finding a way to change her sister.

Now they were doing it… and it was clear Makoto had hoped, but never actually wanted to face or see a Palace made around her sister’s heart.

The implications… there were a lot of them and even he didn’t know where to start.

She had been strong, in front of the others, pushing back everything, showing her tempered fury but keeping it all under control, just behind her mask. She wasn’t going to go out and explode now, the stakes were too high and this was too important.

She couldn’t lose control now… and he knew that had to be eating away at her…

So when she asked, Ryuji came running.

He’d be the one she called when she needed it and she did, and he’d be the one to respond, doing whatever he could.

As he came upon the entrance of Shibuya station, he saw her leaning against the wall to the stairs leading down…

She just looked up, those red eyes of hers dropping whatever pretense, whatever walls and steel she had for the team and everyone else.

She looked so fragile right now.

“Ryuji…”

He was at her side in a few paces, wrapping his arms around her tightly and bringing her close to his chest, “it’s okay, Makoto…” he pet her hair back, “I’m here…”

And she cried. She gripped tightly to his sweater and buried his face in his chest, comforted by the feeling of him surrounding her.

He was warm and safe. That’s all that mattered.

Ryuji kept the scowl on his face in check, stroking her back, letting her do what she needed to…

All he wanted to do right now, aside from comforting his girl, was punch that smug detective in his stupid face.

- _You hurt her Akechi Goro… and no one hurts_ **my Queen** _-_

When they were done with this charade, this stupid game… he was going to enjoy punching that twat right in the eye.

\-----

After a while the tears stopped and Makoto just held onto Ryuji’s arm.

He started walking towards the shopping district, this didn’t seem like the right time to be running off into Mementos and beating up shadows. She followed without a word, just holding his arm and not even caring. There may have been other students out this late, might have been some shady gangsters, might have been some police, she wasn’t caring and didn’t give a damn if they saw her clutching onto her _boyfriend’s_ arm.

Glancing up she saw Ryuji having that delinquent’s look on his face, shoulders hunched, mouth sticking out to the side in a thuggish pout, his eyes looking around with a hard glare, just daring anyone to say anything.

When she didn’t have the sense or care to take care of herself, he was doing it for her.

It brought a smile to her lips, despite everything and why she had even called him out here, he still made her smile with the silly things he did.

Standing a bit straighter, she lowered one of her hands around his arm to his hand, clasping it, lacing their fingers together. She was still leaning on his shoulder, still holding his upper arm with her other hand, but she could do it with a bit more dignity knowing he was looking out for her.

After all, what was a Queen without her bodyguard?

The thought brought a small chuckle to her lips, and she couldn’t help but try and cover it up.

Pausing amongst the neon lights, Ryuji looked down at Makoto, surprised to see her smiling, even laughing, “Hey, what’s so funny?”

“You,” her voice was low, barely audible amongst the nightlife. She squeezed his hand, leaning her head further on his shoulder, “I didn’t think a pirate could be such a keen bodyguard…”

Raising a brow and frowning at first, it took the boy a second to realize her words, then grinned like Skull, “Gotta protect _my_ booty right?” with a cheeky grin he made it clear he wanted to untangle their hands and grab what was his.

It brought a blush to Makoto’s face and she let his hand go… knowing his intent and apparently not caring about decorum right now. They weren’t anyone right now, just two teenagers out in the streets after dark wondering around.

Skull just grinned, moving his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close and leaning into her hair, “Hey, even a pirate can have standards…”

“How noble,” she crossed her arms, acting like she was offended… but really, she found his random moments of chivalry quite sweet. She leaned into his embrace, preferring to be closer to him and surrounded by him than anything the night air had to offer.

With a kiss on her cheek the boy stood up straighter, arm around her shoulder and walking with more confidence than a moment ago, “Gotta do what’s right by _my Queen_ after all.” He sent her a cheeky wink.

Makoto just smirked, nothing to say as she leaned into him, letting him swagger all he wanted while walking them around. There was no goal, that was clear, the point was just to move…

To give her time and space in the safety of his company.

\-----

They walked around aimlessly, through the bright lights of Shibuya, up and down the street and off to the darker alleys of another district. Ryuji and Makoto just kept walking, past malls, stores, hearing the train in the distance as the crowds got thinner and thinner later into the night.

Going down aimless streets they wound up near a pier. The ocean was there but it was all closed off with wire fences, shipping crates stacked high in the distance.

“Hey, you wanna do something stupid?” the blonde punk had a grin that reminded her of Skull, as he held out his hand to her.

That phrase was basically the starting point of their entire relationship, so of course she only had one answer to it, “Yes.”

With a pirate’s grin the phantom thieves snuck into the cordoned off pier. It didn’t matter that there were guards, or dogs, or hell probably even Yakuza doing some shady deals by the boats. It was late and dark and all kinds of things could be going on…

They could get killed, they could get robbed, they could run into something they sure as hell shouldn’t have…

But Skull just kept smiling, leading Queen on as they went through the shipping area.

Ryuji stood at the base of one of the big cranes used for loading and unloading, giving that cocky grin and waiting as she turned the corner after him.

That grin spread as he pulled out his phone and pressed a familiar eye looking icon, disappearing right before her eyes.

“Tch!” she sounded pissed, should have been pissed… but as Makoto pulled out her phone to hit the Nav, Queen’s smirk wouldn’t leave her face.

As the world turned into shades of red and purple, the lights taking on an eerie green hue, Queen looked around for Skull.

“Up here!!” the flashy pirate’s voice called from above.

Facing up, Queen saw Skull standing on the top of the crane. It looked mostly normal, with bits of goo and bone on it but beyond that everything else was about the same… it really reminded her of Mementos for a moment.

Then there was Skull, spinning up on a bar at the top, doing something that _normally_ would be insane and impossible to do…

But here in the Metaverse, insane and impossible was child’s play.

With a smirk Queen easily climbed up the scaffolding, healing herself if she needed to and throwing a Diarahan on Skull when she made it up to him.

“Phew, thanks!” that shark-toothed grin of his didn’t leave as he quickly trotted towards her, not caring in the least for the narrow footing or height they were on. Skull just cared about one thing, reaching his Queen…

“Ryu-?!” as soon as he was within arm’s length, Ryuji had reached out, grabbing Makoto’s hand and pulled her in tight to him, cutting off her surprise and her concern. He held her close, tight enough she could feel every curve and hard plane of his body as she was sure he could feel her as the pirate themed thief stole a devastating kiss.

With the red sky and green moon, it was a rather picturesque moment.

Makoto couldn’t help but release a moan, pushing a bit forward, forgetting herself for a moment as she remembered what this boy tasted like, felt like, just everything about him.

Pulling back he rest his forehead on hers, not caring for their masks, just rubbing her shoulders and back, reminding her with his touch he was there.

A small, fragile smile picked at her lips and Makoto couldn’t bring herself to look up at him, instead pushing forward to bury her face in the crook of his neck, gripping his back tightly as she just figured out how to breathe properly.

The events of the day… what they did, what they found… that asshole detective that joined them… her sister…

It was all still just… too much.

Right now she just needed someone to hold onto and Ryuji had proven time and again he was there for her when she needed it.

Even this… it was stupid and daring… but somehow romantic and comforting…

“You stupid boy…” a hard chuckle released from her breath as she gripped him once more before pushing back enough to look at him, “You’re such a reckless, vulgar jerk…”

A soft grin showed under Skull’s mask, his dark brown eyes only focused on her own as he said smoothly and with confidence, “Yea, but you love me for it…”

Tears picked at the edges of Makoto’s eyes, breathing in deeply and sharply as she looked into his eyes. For once, she had a real answer for him, “You’re right…” with a choked laugh her smile grew, “I really do…”

It took a second, she watched as the realization hit him, his eyes widening as his hands unconsciously tightened around her. There were tears at the edges of his eyes too, out of sheer joy as he grew an uncontrollable grin before leaning in and kissing her, with more love and passion then ever before.

It was warm and made her feel that way… like someone was there for her, like coming home…

When they pulled apart Makoto was giggling, trying to wipe her eyes despite Queen’s mask, “This is just…” she couldn’t finish, not sure where to go or what she was truly thinking. Her feelings, her heart, it was all overflowing at this point and she was afraid to drown in this emotion.

“Reckless, stupid?” Skull put his forehead to hers, his hot breath mixing with hers with their proximity, “All those big fancy words you like to call us and everything else we do?”

“Heh,” she couldn’t help but shake her head, squeezing his hands tight, “Yea… yea, that sounds about right.”

They both laughed. Kissed again and laughed again.

They loved each other, it was so obvious but neither of them had ever said it till now.

“I love you _my Queen_ …”

“I love you Skull…”

A smirk and they kissed again on that high-rise crane.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a romantic~ sue me~ :D
> 
> probably not what anyone was thinking (ie: crazy/sexy~) but... dunno, i'm happy with it~ got to use Ryuji's stupid line again he kept saying in the beginning and Mako respond! >:D
> 
> its romantic, picturesque, and ya'll can imagine what they did after if you want~ hehehehe~
> 
> i still fucking hate twat -3-


	15. Morning Ambush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its been a few days since that night at the pier...

11/9 – Morning Ambush

There was a blaring alarm.

“Uh… eff man… I’m up…” groggily the blonde delinquent slid across his bed, reaching out to tap the alarm.

It didn’t go quite as planned…

“Ah, shit!” Ryuji fell off his bed, hitting his head and scrambling up from the pain to his knees, one hand rubbing his head the other slamming the damn annoying clock. “Sonvabitch that hurt… ow, ow, ow…”

Slowly the boy got up, rubbing his head, then his eyes and yawning as his brain took forever to register what was going on. “Ugh… what do I… huh?” looking down his foot touched something… something that shouldn’t have been there.

It was a shoe.                                                                                          

A black shoe.

One worn by girls… at his school…

Blinking Ryuji looked from the shoe back to his bed.

Makoto was laying there half covered by his blanket.

“Oh, that-” a yawn as he turned around, rubbing his head, “That makes sense…”

He made it about three more steps.

Turned on his heel and marched back to his bed, pulling the blanket back and staring with flat eyes.

Yep, that was a naked girl in his bed. The Class President of his school and second-in-command of the Phantom Thieves.

He was just making sure.

When she rolled over, trying to get comfortable again in sleep, he tucked the blanket back around her, gave her a kiss on the cheek and turned back around, finding a pair of shorts and walking out the door.

Yawning, and still rubbing his eyes of sleep he wondered into the kitchen, heading straight for the fridge without even looking.

“So I see that cute girl from your school stayed over again…” a calm, not judging voice called from behind him.

“GAH!!” Ryuji’s shoulders tensed as he jumped and spun around.

His mother was just sitting there, smirking, as she calmly drank more coffee.

“M-Mom?!” looking around like he’d just got caught, which technically he did, sorta, he blinked before confused before his dark brown eyes landed back on her, “W-what are you d-doing h-here?!” he looked around again, a bit more awake and trying to find a clock, “A-ain’t it early? I mean late for you? Aren’t you going to be late?!” he could have swore she was working today…

His mother just smirked in a similar fashion to Skull, it was obvious where he got that from, as she looked at him over her coffee mug, “I worked a double last night, I just got in actually…” she tapped her chin, looking up as if unconcerned, “And here I wanted to check in on my baby boy before he had to get up for school…” she held up her hands, being a bit dramatic, “Imagine my surprised, finding him comforted in the arms of another woman!” she sniffled, turning the side as if crying, “Mother has been replaced…”

“M-Mom…” Ryuji scratched the back of his head, both embarrassed and feeling foolish. He should have taken more precautions that they didn’t get caught, or at the least his mother didn’t find out so stupidly. – _I swore she was working today!_ \- he almost wondered if she planned this out… but if that was the case, how long had she known?

She was still doing the fake crying thing.

“Tch, c’mon, you know that doesn’t work!” showing a bit more aggression, more because he was embarrassed, he gave a punkish frown looking away.

His mother snickered, “Oh fine,” she dropped the act, taking another sip of her coffee and looked up at her boy, “You just worry me is all,” she raised a brow, “Having an older woman in your bed~”

His cheeks went red, “ITS NOT LIKE THAT!!” he had a fist held up and his eye twitching. He couldn’t really deny his mother’s claim, she was right and had seen them, supposedly. He was with Makoto that was a fact and if his mother was asking there really was no reason for him to deny it.

Still, he could deal without _some_ of her teasing…

“It looked very adult to me~” her dark eyes narrowed on her son, though it was hard to tell how serious her accusation was.

The boy just frowned, putting his hand down and trying to not shake too much. He had no reason to get angry, he was just embarrassed, no need to blow up like this. – _Makoto would be upset if she heard me yelling at my mom…_ \- it brought back bad memories, just a bit. – _I said I’d be a better man…_ \- he had a lot to live up to, words he intended to keep, it just took a lot to work on every day.

He took a deep breath, calming himself down as much as he could, though the red and frown on his face wouldn’t leave, “I-its not… not like that…”

His mother raised a dark brow, “I see,” the older woman smirked, “She really has been a good influence on you Ryu-chan.”

It took a lot to keep the smirk off his face, one of his hands raising to embarrassedly scratch the back of his head, “C’mon mom, she’s just… we’re good together, alright?” he took a moment, thinking about the girl still asleep in his room. The smirk came, softer at first then showing fangs like his mother’s, “She’s _my girl_ , after all!”

His mother’s brow rose higher, though she smirked behind her coffee mug as she took another sip, “And here I thought she was just helping you _studying_ ,” flat dark eyes watched as her boy tensed at the word. She couldn’t help the snicker at his reactions, “We called that a favor back in my day~”

“Mooooooom!!” the embarrassed blonde boy covered his face, “The Eff! Man!! I don’t need to be hearing this!!”

His mother openly laughed, setting her coffee mug on the table, going for a good minute or two before wiping her eye and calming down. When she looked at her son, there was something pleased about it, “Well, she did help you score better on that test, so I can’t really complain _too_ much about an older woman…”

Ryuji just flatly stared at his mother, “She’s not even a year older than me, mom!”

The elder Sakamoto just winked, waving her hand, “You never know, older women are always dangerous~”

“Errgh!” the blonde Phantom Thief just growled, turning around to look for something to eat. His plan, what little of it there was, was that his mother would be asleep, like she had been a few days before, while he and Makoto quickly snuck out and went to school, grabbing something on the way. The idea had been the less time they spent around here the easier it would be to sneak around his mother… not that he was embarrassed or anything, Makoto was great! He just… knew his mother… and it was… embarrassing…

- _Man I hope she doesn’t ask about us having sex…-_ mentally he looked up to the sky, praying to whatever deity was in charge of this bullshit would help him out. He was almost positive if he asked Makoto she could name a few gods that dealt with ‘getting out of talking about your sex life with your mother’ and he’d send all kinds of prayers and gifts to all of them.

“So…” that one word was like a death knell, “You two having sex?”

Ryuji’s grip on the fridge tightened, along with everything else, as he cursed all those nameless gods for failing him!

There was another laugh behind him, “I don’t quite know what I should be feeling,” His mother was looking away, apparently just as embarrassed about this conversation as him, “Here when I was your age I’d fooled around with a few boys before, but this day and age kids barely seem interested,” she shrugs, “I guess I was worried about you, honestly.”

That was… not what he was expecting… or ever wanted to hear!

“Ew! Mom!! Gross!!” he closed the fridge, nothing looking appealing right now anyway.

“Oh, and here I thought you two were sleeping naked for _some reason_ , hehe,” why, _why_ did his mother giggle!!

He put his head in his hand. – _I’m in some kind of hell aren’t I? This is what I get for beating up all those shadows? Hitting on girls? Reading porn?!_ \- when he turned around and dared to open his eye behind his hand, he saw something strange.

His mother was just looking at him, with a funny smile on her face.

Lowering his hand, Ryuji quirked a brow, “Mom?”

“I’m just…” there was a sniffle as she rubbed her eye, “Sorry just… where did all the time go? You were just my little boy and now you’re… well…” she ducked her eyes a moment, reminiscing about something before raising her dark eyes to look into his, “You’ve grown up, Ryuji.”

A burst of happiness and warmth filled Ryuji’s chest, he pursed his lips together, trying to control the stupid grin that wanted to show up on his face, “Aw, c’mon Mom… this is… that’s weird.”

She smiled something gentle for a moment longer before it morphed into a smirk, “Just remember to wrap up, don’t want to go getting her pregnant or anything!”

If Ryuji had been drinking anything he was sure he’d have spit it out all over his mother, thankfully he wasn’t, “M-MOM!!”

Again she was giggle, waving her hand, “What, I’m serious~ That girl looks like she’s going to go places, you’ll be lucky to tag along.”

Ryuji just groaned, “Moooom,” he crossed his arms, rolling his eyes. he knew there was some serious concern mixed in with his mother’s words, and he agreed with her, but at the same time…

The boy fidgeted, rubbing his toe along the floor, “She’s… she’s great, alright, already has her plans, hell I’m sure she could get into any university she wants, while I’m…” looking down he rubbed the back of his neck, a small frown forming on his face.

His mother looked at him sympathetic, “You’re fine, Ryu-chan,” a small smile picked up on her lips. She knew her son wasn’t ‘the best’, he’d been a good runner before his injury and she had hoped he could have gotten a scholarship with that because academically he… just wasn’t interested. But then his injury and it hadn’t looked good for a while, she still had hopes for him. He had been getting better these past few months and she could almost bet it was thanks to this girl, “She seems the driven type, but sweet enough to help out someone not as focused…” she winced, that was probably the best way she could put it, “You’ll find what you want to do in your own time, Ryu-chan.”

Ryuji just sighed, leaning back against the closed fridge, a frown tugging at his lips as he rubbed his arms, “Its just… Tch,” he clicked his tongue, pouting, “She’s got… well, all this shit going on, plus all this adult crap expected of her, and she just…” he waved his hands, not sure what to say, “Its crazy Mom, how everything’s basically been planned out for her and I…” he ran his hand through his hair, “I just… dunno where I fit in or if… if I’m good enough or right or whatever…”

“So, she’s on a path set for her, and you’re adrift?” there was a funny smirk on the elder Sakamoto’s face.

“Yea, something like that I guess,” Ryuji rubbed his neck, still not sure about a lot ahead of him, but he knew one thing, “I love her, Mom, she’s great, does a lot for me and I feel like I can at least… at least make her smile.”

That smirk grew on his mother’s face, “I’m sure she feels the same…”

“Y-yea… I know…” he smiled a bit silly looking away.

His mother just shook her head, “You better, after all; out of everything else being planned out in her life for her,” she winked at her son, “She _chose_ you.”

When the weight and meaning of that sunk into Ryuji’s head his face just became blank. He’d never thought about it like that. He knew about Makoto’s life being basically planned for her, she’d told them all about it when she joined them, and from what she’d told him she still planned to go to university and do some of that still, but for her own reasons and going into law enforcement because she wanted to, not _exactly_ what her sister had picked out for her.

But he hadn’t really thought about how he fit in her life. He loved her, that was obvious, and she’d admitted she _did_ love him back, which made him elated, he hadn’t thought much about it beyond that. Maybe he was still a bit of a kid, and just didn’t think ahead much…

But the idea that out of everything in her life, all the stuff she couldn’t control, Makoto _chose_ him, and was happy about that…

It made his heart soar.

His mother noticed the stupid look on her son’s face, it was the same look she used to get about his father. She had been in love once, and while it didn’t exactly work out, she did have her son for all the trouble and she loved the boy. Saw a lot of herself in him, someone that tried hard despite everything. He may not have been the brightest kid, and didn’t know what exactly he wanted out of the future, but he was a hard worker when he set his mind to something.

From the sounds of what this girl was going through, and how much her boy was trying to help out in his own way…

Well, she knew her son would appreciate a girl that was driven and knew what she wanted, he’d support that. She just hoped that girl realized what she had.

Getting up, she put the coffee cup in the sink and walked over to her dazed son, putting her hand on his shoulder and leaning over to kiss his cheek, “Now you be good,” she pat his shoulder while he nodded, smirking as she walked down the hall towards her room, “I’m not old enough to be a grandmother!”

“MOM!!” Ryuji shouted down the short hall, his voice squeaking as he turned red.

\-----

Inside Ryuji’s room, Makoto had to put a hand over her mouth, otherwise her giggles would be loud enough to give her eavesdropping away.

All things considered, at least his mother liked her.

\-----

Makoto didn’t come out of Ryuji’s room until it was time to leave, holding her shoes and glancing down the hall both ways. She didn’t want to accidentally wake his mother, _if_ she was asleep, but more importantly didn’t want to confront her just _quite_ yet about… _things_.

Sneaking to the small kitchenette at the Sakamotos, Ryuji was already standing there in his uniform; bag under his arm, improper undershirt open for the world to see. She fought the urge to start buttoning up his shirt… that would be surprisingly more suspicious.

He handed her a plate with a piece of toast with an egg on it before scampering off to put his shoes on, not saying a word but she knew there was that ridiculous grin on his face, it was always there.

Giving a light sigh, red eyes rolled as Makoto put the toast in her mouth and quickly rinsed off the plate and put it in the sink. At least _she_ could be considerate enough to do that… it was nice Ryuji made her something.

She walked down the short hall to the door, leaning to put her shoes down to put them on… only for Ryuji to lean over and bite the opposite side of her toast.

“Hehehe.” He just grinned, enjoying his pilfered goods.

Red eyes glared at him as Makoto figured out how to put her shoes on while eating the rest before he decided to lean in for more…

Not that it didn’t stop him from leaning in and stealing a kiss, licking crumbs off the corners of her lips, backing up with a rather charming grin before he got up, turning enough to hold out his hand to help her up.

Despite the incredulous glare she was giving him, Makoto did accept his offered hand, stealing a small peck when she was standing, and quickly turned to grab her bag and walked out the door first, as was proper for a Queen.

Ryuji stood there blinking for a second before chuckling, heading out after her.

Down the hall a door opened fully, Ryuji’s mother had watched the whole thing from the crack of her door. She leaned against the frame, arms crossed and shaking her head, “That was disgustingly cute…”

She gave a grin that would put her son’s rebellious-ego to shame.

\-----

“So… you’re mother…”

They were less than a block from Ryuji’s building on their way to the train station. The few times Makoto had stayed over at her _boyfriend’s_ they had gotten into a routine of being close on their way to the station from his place. For the first two blocks she’d lean on him, hold his hand, stuff like that, and she was perfectly justified in doing so as it was _cold!_ The extra warmth helped mitigate that…

After that they’d drift a bit more as more people came about and by the time they got to the train would separate. Both knew why, while they were perfectly willing to admit to each other they loved each other and enjoyed being near, neither was willing to deal with all the bullshit such a relationship would bring out from those around them, even random strangers at school.

Makoto was still the Class President, and for all intents and purposes Ryuji was still the school fuck up, oh the scandal~

But the more this occurred, the closer to the date when they’d have to confront Sae’s shadow… the less Makoto cared about what anonymous bystanders thought. She’d be out of Shujin soon enough and it’s not like other people got hassled for who _they_ dated!

– _Though… if my sister caught wind…_ \- okay, **_that_** could be a problem… which was probably why she was nervous about Ryuji’s mother finding out. Older women were dangerous, Makoto could completely agree with Mrs. Sakamoto on that.

If Sae found out, things wouldn’t be _nearly_ as amicable as what happened with his mother this morning… it still made her nervous though.

She didn’t even realize she was clutching Ryuji’s hand tighter, or looked completely terrified as she brought up the subject.

Ryuji just had a sour look on his face, frown evident as he rubbed his head with his free hand, “Ugh… you heard that?”

“Well at least she didn’t ban me from seeing you~” Red eyes looked at the boy slyly, it was all she could do to not succumb to how much she’d been terrified of that prospect. Their relationship wasn’t exactly… ‘ _proper_ ’, which was one of her major concerns with her sister, but hearing his mother not only flat out ask about their sexual status but joke about it… well, it wasn’t exactly comforting, but not as bad as it could be. They could survive being embarrassed, right?

The sour look on Ryuji’s face seemed to get worse, “Ugh, the Eff man!” he covered his face, clearly trying to push back the red on his cheeks, “It’s bad enough she ambushed me back there, don’t you start too…”

“Hehe,” his embarrassment was rather cute, and thinking about it helped her forget her own as Makoto held his hand tighter, leaning on his arm, “S-sorry, I didn’t mean to ask it that way…”

He was pouting, looking anywhere but at her.

Red eyes watched him, amused before her own embarrassment had her looking at the ground, “I-it might be best if… if I don’t come over for a while…”

“What?!” his voice almost sounded like it squeaked, turning to her with wide eyes.

It made Makoto feel a bit more nervous, her shoulders coming up as she bit her lip, not facing him, “It’s just… well… I don’t want to give the wrong impression… a-and I’m sure… it would be b-better for everything g-going on and-!!”

Swiftly Ryuji turned her, holding both her shoulders and looking at her seriously in the eyes. He was rather quite handsome when he had that serious look about him, concern knitting his dark brows, “You don’t have to…”

Reaching up to touch his upper arm she gave a weak smile, “Its fine, I don’t want to make anything awkward between you and your mother.”

“Tch,” Ryuji rolled his eyes, “Already awkward as hell…”

“Hehe,” Makoto brought her hand up to her mouth, looking at him coyly, “See?”

The blonde delinquent just frowned, pulling her close, into his chest, with his lips near her ear, whispering, “I don’t want you going home and feeling alone…”

A shiver ran through her body as Makoto wrapped her arms around him and gave a quick squeeze, “I’m not alone…” without even thinking, she turned and kissed his cheek, holding him out and giving a more genuine smile as she stepped back and let go.

Ryuji just looked at her stunned, obviously he wanted to say something, but…

“I’m sure I have some Student Council work to do, so I’m… I’m going to go on ahead,” blushing, Makoto glanced at him then away, giving a small smirk and turning around running ahead to catch the train.

Dark brown eyes blinked as Ryuji raised his hand to the spot she kissed him, causing him to sigh, “Man, she didn’t even give me a chance…”

Despite himself he smirked, still rubbing the spot he felt her warm lips on his cheeks. She wouldn’t tell anyone else, but if it came down to it, if she needed him, if she felt scared or alone, she’d call him.

And he’d be there, ready to run over in a heartbeat.

Skull grinned, maybe it wasn’t so bad getting caught…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooooooo... who ordered Fluff? :D
> 
> hehehe, i have it planned out to play with the whole between ranks 9 and 10 needing two 'dates' but i wasn't sure what to do, and wrote the first part on a whim to get some thoughts out... and Ryuji's mom turned out to be a lot of fun~ was trying to not let my terrible non-japanese idiosyncrasies intrude... but if Ryuji's such a little punk, i get the feeling his mom is a bit of one too, so surprisingly worked out~ and coming back and rereading, i found myself liking the scene more and just decided to build off of that for this interlude bit~
> 
> She's like the opposite of Reki from WYCH (who won't stop teasing about GETTING grandkids~) XD which i surprisingly still like~ hehe~
> 
> hope ya guys don't mind ;P


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